THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET

Tommy Maley lived across the street from us and he used to crawl out of his bedroom window and sit on the roof in his underpants and smoke cigarettes. He was kinda weird and kinda cool. His parents seemed pretty much oblivious, and our side of the street was discreet. Aunt Cassie and Uncle Al lived next door...he was quiet and nice and she was the neighborhood gossip machine. She had bright orange hair, and insisted that everyone call her "aunt". Actually only the kids called her that, even though she didn't really do anything to deserve the title. My Aunts were all nice...and gave me things, and Aunt Cassie just talked about people. When I'd come home with a juicy tidbit about old Mrs Wilson having a boyfriend, my mother would say..."where did you hear that....Cassie Winters? "

The Riley's next door lived in a very busy house. Bill, Tom, Jimmy,Jerry, (twins),Lulu,Lizzy, and Monkey. (I'll be damned if I can remember the little one's real name...they just called her Monkey). Mrs Riley was French Canadian, and a really nice lady, while Mr Riley seemed to mostly go to work or sit reading the paper. Bill was the first boy other than mean Beecher or Tommy in the underpants that I got to know. Bill spent a lot of time talking about California where they used to live or Lionel trains. More about him later.

Vinnie and Jimmy lived next to them....nice kids who played with the Riley's while their mothers drank coffee together until they had a big fight. I think it was about dirty diapers or all the kids or something, but even speaking their names in the same sentence would result in someone saying "shhh".

Mrs Gore had two kids...Bobby and Beverly. I am absolutely sure that what everyone from that neighborhood would remember about her was how she would call her kids. It was like BOBBY.....BOBBY GORE in a really loud sing song kinda way....then BEVERLY.....BEVERLY GORE. We'd all laugh when we heard her, then Bobby and Beverly would turn red and go home.

Susie Edgar lived next to the Humphries. I have nothing to say about them because nobody ever saw them either. Now my mother and I just had a discussion about whether or not Susie also had a duck....like my friend in Erie.

I find it hard to believe that I knew two people who had ducks...c'mon now...it's a little unusual for city people to have ducks. The scariest thing however is that I was thinking it's name was also Margaret. Then again I got 10 emails last week from two friends in Girard Pa who found duck eggs in a public pool and took them home and now they have nine ducks. The mother ran away. ( no wonder..maybe Mrs Riley should have done the same). Ducks Ducks Ducks.

Rounding out the block were the Larsens and the Shields. Beecher bullied the Larson boy...who was really nice and became a Franciscan brother...he sent me a Christmas card from Sweden this year. His sister was pretty, and I think I might have gone to her prom. Bobby Shields was our friend, and not just because his mother gave us real popsicles instead of Kool Aid ice cubes. The only problem with Bobby was that we suspected his older brother of being a member of the much feared Panther Club. They were the ones who roamed our woods and threatened to beat us all up or kill us and eat us or something.

Bobby never mentioned his brother...but his ties to organized crime made us all wary.

It was a fun neighborhood...parents all visiting one another on Christmas day, and acting like crazy 30 year olds (which they were) on New Years Eve. They barricaded the street once a year for a big block party, and many of us kids have stayed in Christmas card contact ever since. Woof and I were sitting on the porch last night watching the lightning bugs, and I told her about doing that as a kid...a long long time ago....with another dog also named Woof. She seemed more interested in trying to catch a lightning bug than in hearing about any other dog in my life. She's always had a jealous streak.