A Boys Story - Chapter 3 - The Adventures of Charles Kent: Portage Trip

One summer my parents arranged for me to visit grandma Arn in Portage for the whole summer including Fourth of July and the Columbia County fair. I got to ride the Hiawatha train too, JOY! 

Hiawatha Train 1940's

I was very excited my heart nearly busted with happiness. I could see my grandmother, my aunts, my uncles and lotsa cousins … it was going to be a swell summer. About a week after school was out for the summer, it was time to catch the Milwaukee Road Hiawatha. I had told my Friends that I was taking the trip and promised to send them penny postcards. My uncle, Howard Heberlein was called, "Spider". He was a conductor on the Hiawatha and dad and I watched for him as the huge light gray, orange and black slipped past us steaming into the depot with head lights flashing as the huge iron wheels, taller than a man, slow down and stopped. Uncle spider was a tall man with a great smile and friendly laugh. He was hanging out of the first passenger car swinging on a bar and jumped onto the train platform before the porter had set out a stepping stool for the passengers to enter. Uncle Spider shook my dad’s hand and grabbed my suitcase and shouted to me, “Well Charles do you have a ticket?” I nodded … “okey-dokey then let’s go" … he winked at my dad, and grabbed my hand to help me back on the train. No time for hugs and kisses, besides I was a big boy traveling alone, taking the Hiawatha to new adventures. 

            There were some sailors dressed in white uniforms on board. Uncle Spider said they were traveling west to Seattle and then the Pacific to go to war. He let me sit near them, but not too close. I was in the company of my heroes. I looked out the train windows and listened to the sailors stories as we quickly clicked clacked along past the green Wisconsin farmland. One of the sailors played a harmonica… he played “Anchors Away” and “Bell Bottom Trousers” and some other tunes. My uncle came to punch my ticket and check on me. We walked back to the dining car for a tuna sandwich and milk. We made a couple of stops along the way with folks getting off and on, soon we arrived in Portage. As the train slowed, Uncle Spider and I looked out the side windows until we saw Jack and Joan standing beside their red radio flyer coaster wagon. 

My cousins were waving, jumping and shouting … glad to see me and their dad. We loaded my suitcase into the coaster wagon and rolled across the bricks for the depot. My aunt Dorothy ran the lunch counter so Jack and Joan and I were treated to an ice cream sundae with chocolate syrup and big red cherry with a stand. Then we were off to Gramma Arns house on Marion street.

            Gramma’s House had a big double yard with a garden in back and a big shed that health card and tools and a supply of wood for the stove. The house had a screened in porch facing the side yard in the front door on the same side with a small open front porch… under stood gramma wearing her apron. Her face was all smiles with outstretched arms ready for a hug to fold around all of us. Gramma Arn kissed me all over my face while Jack and Joanne took my suitcase inside and up the steep staircase to the front bedroom. We then sat at her dining room table and talked of plans while gramma got us all fresh warm cookies from the kitchen. Jack and Joan and their big brother Jim lived about a block away on Marion Street near to the Portage public school. 

            I could visit Jack and Joan later, but Grandma told me that I had daily chores to help her out … and that was swell. I told her about my experience with dandelions and plant watering … I didn’t tell her about the mice. Gramma soon had me out in the garden which was bigger than our Victory garden at home. Gramma had an outdoor well and red pump that made watering easier. The soil was more sandy though so I did a lot of pumping and hauling. Peas, snap beans, tomato plants, squash, melons, potatoes, rows of corn and an herb garden. Gramma had everything in her sunny yard. In the evening we would sit on the screened porch. Grandma had an old rocking chair and there was a single bed that I sat on. We listened to the radio and sometimes Grandma would tell me stories about my mother and my aunts.

            Gramma who was a nurse and she had treated many of the Indians who live between portage in the Wisconsin Dells. In her parlor she had a picture of Chug evergreen tree standing on her front porch. It wasn’t unusual for an Indian to stop by for treatment and to pay Grandma with fresh cut fish or eggs or a chicken. 

            Gramma had great stories … some about chickens or frogs. One was about my mother when she was a child. She had received a beautiful handmade hat, scarf and mittens one Christmas. That winter some Indians were driving past gramma’s house with a large sled loaded with split firewood in the morning. The sled was pulled by a team of horses. My mom ran out into the snow packed road and jumped on the back of the sled runner to hitch a ride to school. One of the Indians saw her and climbed over the load of firewood, reached down and snatched her hat. She got in trouble for hitching a ride and for losing her new hat … it was good to hear that mom got into trouble too, sometimes. 

            Gramma Arn’s House was old fashion and interesting. One large window near the front door was red. I liked to look outside and see all the shades of red. The front parlor had pictures of Cupid asleep and awake in oval frames … another picture of a black wolf looking at a small cabin and cabinets and shelves with many pictures and objects. The first rule was to “keep your hands in your pockets”, meaning don’t touch anything. There were palm fronds from years ago behind pictures of Jesus pointing at his bloody heart and come gold crosses. All the chairs looked brand new and there where doilies everywhere. The second rule was “don’t sit down” … the parlor was like a shrine, a place of beauty and amazement. With Jesus watching I wasn’t about to do anything bad.

            Jack in Joan’s House was near the school playground across McFarland Road. The house had a screen porch the width of the house. They had a music room with a piano, as my cousins could play piano very well. The only thing I could play was, “Peter, Peter pumpkin eater” which they taught me. The music room was also used by us to play board games and stage magic shows. Jack was really good at magic. I had brought him some tricks from the magic shop that he could do much better than me with no practice. Joan could play baseball better than any of my friends, boys or girls. We would play catch with the baseball and gloves over on the school playground or bat a ball to catch on the fly. When Joan threw a pitch you better catch it or it would hurt. The playground had swings and a sort of merry-go-round that you could push fast to make it spin and then you hopped on. Sometimes another cousin who lived nearby, Fredy Hamele, would join us and we would whirl around faster and faster trying not to fly off … we would stagger off, too dizzy to stand and would collapse onto the grass laughing as our heads continued to spin. Mulberry trees grow near the swings and we would eat them until our mouth’s, tongues and fingers were purple.

            My days were into a routine of helping Grandma with chores and then off to see the Heberleins or my other cousins the Hameles. My Aunt Orma had an older son named Bobby Peters who lived in Stevens Point with his dad. Barbara Peters and Judy Hamele lived with Aunt Orma. Barbara and Bobby were older than me and were not home much. Aunt Orma was the youngest and funnest of my mothers sisters. She had lotsa stories to tell and would make faces to entertain Julie and me. She knew jokes too. Some days Julie and I would help her hang laundry out to dry or to fold laundry, there always seemed to be chores to do in Portage.

            At gramma’s house I helped her clean out her cellar. Instead of a basement she had a round cellar under the kitchen. She had me down there washing off the dust on lotsa canning jars full of beans, pickles, sliced beets and some stuff I didn’t know. I didn’t break anything… gramma told me I was “her favorite grandchild”. I found out later that she told Jack that he was her favorite too. I guess grandmothers can have more than one.

            Jack and Joan and I went to Panquette Park on the Wisconsin River. My aunt Dorothy let us go if there was a period of time without rain because the river could turn fast and dangerous when the water was high. The park has a little ponds with frogs and tadpoles that we chased for hours.  

            Jack had a Wyandotte horse race game that had horses of different colors that advanced when little balls would strike them from a whirling metal drum. We would bet 2 pennies on each of the horses… winner takes all. It must’ve been a fair game because we usually came out about even. Knowing how good Jack was with tricks he probably could have fooled me and won all the pennies, but he didn’t.

            One rainy day Jim Heberlein was home and asked the three of us if we wanted to learn how to box. Boxing was taught at Portage high school as part of physical education. Both my older cousins Bob and Jim had been in the high school boxing team. Bob had also done some boxing in the Navy. The four of us went down into the basement. Jim had some big red boxing gloves for the three of us. Jim showed us how to stand, how to throw a punch in how to cover-up. After a little practice with Jim he asked if Joan and I would like to try punching each other. Joan could hit as well she could throw, but she said I hit too hard. Then Jack and I were asked if we wanted to face each other. We both said “Yes”. Jack was a little taller than me, but my first punch hit him in the head and he fell backwards into the basement wall. Suddenly there was a lot of blood and Jack was sprawled on the floor. I thought I killed him! Joan was crying, I was crying and Jim was looking worried. He tried to revive Jack and keep Joan and me quiet so Aunt Dorothy wouldn’t hear us. Well, Jack was O.K… said he was “hunky-dory” and the gash in the back of his head eventually healed with Grandma Arns help. Aunt Dorothy ordered, “NO MORE BOXING”.

            Aunt Dorothy had just received a letter in the mail from Bob. Bob finished Naval training to become a sailor. The group of guys who he trained with we’re all assigned to one of two ships. Bob said he was disappointed when he was assigned to the USS Sands, a destroyer. It was a much older ship built in the 1920s. It had been refitted and pressed into service after Pearl Harbor. The other ship was a larger cruiser built in the 1930s named the USS Chicago. Bob said the sailors all knew each other as they had training together. They teased each other about their posting to one ship or the other. The letter told that the Chicago had been attacked and damaged by Jap torpedo bombers. The Sands and some other ships went to help the Chicago back to base and to help pick up sailors that were found in the sea. The Japs hit it again and the Chicago was lost with only a few hundred survivors from the crew of about 1200 which made all the sailors on the Sands very, very sad. Bob wrote that he and other men had wept. Sometimes I would forget about the war and laugh and play and then the war was right in front of you and you were afraid, even if you’re just a kid or a young sailor. 

            One hot day Jim borrowed his parents car and took Jack, Joan and I swimming along with his girlfriend Judy Bohage. Judy had a one piece bathing suit just like my sisters, with printed flowers all over. Joan had a green girls swimsuit, Jim, Jack, and I wore trunks. Silver Lake was only about a mile from the school grounds.

 It had a big sandy beach and wasn’t too deep. The water was clear enough to see little fish and was just the right temperature. We all brought towels, shovels, pails and a big ball. The beach also had a very tall metal playground slide that was in the water … so you could slide down and make a big splash. Judy started sunbathing on her towel. Jack was digging a hole in the sand at the waters edge while Joan and I raced each other trying to run in the water. Jim called to us from the top of the slide … he hollered “WATCH THIS!”… we all waved and watched him fly down the slide, arms above his head as he made a huge splash in the deep water. I wanted to try it too so I started to run through the water toward Jim and the slide. “Charlie come here quick” said Jim standing in waist deep water … “Joan you stay there” Joan was behind me. As I got to Jim he said “Charlie I lost my trunks, can you help me find them?” Well the water wasn’t quite as clear as at the shore, but I could see that Jim was naked. We looked and looked … no trunks. Jim said they were old and he heard them rip as he came down the slide. I was sent to get a towel from the beach for Jim, so he could get out of the water. Judy thought this was very funny and began to take a picture with her box camera as Jim ran for the car. Judy watched us for a while as Jim dashed home for a dry towel and some stronger shorts.

            My uncle Spider had maps just like my dad. He read in the portage daily register that the allies were trying to get to Europe. We looked over the maps and tried to figure out where the troops were fighting, which was very exciting … maybe this war would end sometime. In a few weeks it would be the 4^th of July. We all looked forward to the parade, but mostly I was excited because you could buy firecrackers. My Ma and dad were also coming from Milwaukee to visit for the holiday. Firecrackers were against the law in Milwaukee and I’ve never shot off any. Pinwheels, bottle rockets, two inch salute, cherry bombs, Roman candles, black cat fire crackers and M-80s. I think my dad spent over $30 for a big box for fun and terror!

            Jack, Joan, and I we’re allowed to blow up every ant hill in grammas yard during the day. I made believe that they were Jap Ants hiding in the bunkers and caves, just like in the Pacific. No ants were safe and few survived.

            The parade was colorful but short. Bands played, lotsa flags, a few tractors and some old cars. Veterans from World War I. My favorite was two men and a bicycle built for two who were both dressed in black suits with stove pipe hats in beards … two Lincolns who rode back and forth on the parade route and tipped their hats in unison to pretty girls in the crowd.

            In the evening all the aunts, uncles and children met in grammas big yard for our own July 4th fireworks spectacular! We had boxes of sparklers … if you bent the wire and you could twirl them around to make a spinning shower of sparks. Grammas clothes lines were decorated with pinwheels that whistled as they spun illuminating the whole yard as bottle rockets rushed to explode overhead and Roman candles were just in flight from one end of the yard to the other. Jack stepped on a 2 inch salute just as it exploded … it singed his shoe and his foot was a little sore. Judy Hamele thought it was all too loud and covered her ears a lot. No vegetables in the garden were damaged or injured during the festivities but the idea of an exploding tomato was very tempting. But the evening ended with a whole packages of black cat firecrackers going off on the polls and 2 ten inch tall Mount Vesuvius spraying a huge tower of colors 8 feet in the air. Everyone applauded.

            It was hard to sleep after such a stimulating day, but eventually the loud bangs quieted and later the cicadas song could be heard again very late.  

            On McFarland Road was a grocery store that sold penny candy, some I had not seen before. Like little wax bottles that looked like Coke, but had a sweet syrup inside. 

We rode over there on bikes. Joan let me use her bike, she used Tim’s bike, Jack had one too. I loved Joans bike, Ma never let me have a bike in Milwaukee because of all the traffic and street cars.  Jack and I liked Black Jack gum because it had a nice flavor and you could stick it on your teeth so that it looks like some teeth were missing. We tried it on Aunt Dorothy saying we were boxing again and lost our teeth … she didn’t buy it. 

Aunt Dorothy told me that a famous author also lived on McFarland across from Heberleins. Her name was Zona Gale, she and her husband had lived on the corner in a big white brick house. Aunt Dorothy told me that she had won the Pulitzer Prize for something she wrote. Zona Gale was from Portage but I never met her. 

The summer passed with rounds of chores, vegetables, swimming, games, frogs, magic shows, stories, fire flies and an occasional bang from some left-over fire crackers … but the biggest event of the summer was yet to come.

            The Columbia County fair finally arrived. Bobby Peters was visiting from Stevens point. Jim Heberlein got a pick up truck and picked up Bobby, Barbara and Judy from Aunt Ormies house. Jim and Bobby were popular with the girls, they were friendly and funny. Bobby wore a light blue shirt with a collar and a rolled up his sleeves to show off his tan arms. He seem to know everybody as he went out the window. Jim wore a white T-shirt with rolled up sleeves and he drove and honked his way through Portage to the fairgrounds. Jim, Bobby and Barbara sat in the truck cab and everyone else got to ride in the truck bed with mattress is to “sit on the floor, not crouch or stand.” Barbara had dark hair and a pretty face. She was a little older like Bobby and Jim. As we walked into the fairgrounds, I noticed Barbara got a lot of attention. She walked with us past a group of guys … “hubba, hubba” someone said along with several wolf whistles. Barbara just smiled and walked between Bobby and Jim.

            The carnival rides were fun and scary … with Judy joining and Jack and Joan and me we could always ride with somebody … sometimes we rode together if the seat was big enough like the Ferris wheel in the tilt-a-whirl. 

Jack was the only one of us to be brave enough to ride the Hammer. The Hammer was taller than a house … it swung like a pendulum and will go completely upside down in the cages you sat in would also spin! 

I noticed that the carnival workers had to hose it out now and then. The fair had lotsa animals displayed. Joan and Judy like the rabbits. I was partial towards the horses but they were a lot bigger than the ones back at the dairy. I was interested in the sheep too because my grandfather had a sheep ranch in Montana and I never saw a sheep up close. They had funny eyes, so did the goats.

            The Midway at the fair had a bunch of tents open on one side with guys running games where you could win bright colored plaster statues, canes and metal cowboy horses complete with saddles. Jack, Joan, Julie and I didn’t play much, but watched Bobby and Jim use a big hammer to hit this thing and ring a bell for us. They were also pretty good at knocking down three silver colored wooden milk bottles by throwing a baseball. Many other games were too hard to win, but with the efforts of Jim, Bobby and Barb, all of us had an arm full of prizes to carry back to the truck. Jack and I made believe that we had won the prizes ourselves as we march ahead to drop off our loot before returning for what was next. 

            Food was everywhere, but not regular food. Hot roasted peanuts and little striped bags was my favorite. Jack liked cotton candy. Some churches had regular meals that you could buy, but we preferred candy and cokes and that was O.K. with Jim and Bob. What great cousins. Jack and I also went into some of the site shows. Huge colorful banners displayed what you see inside the tent. We saw a really big snake and some monkeys who wore helmets and drove little motorcycles inside this big mesh metal ball. Because Jack is so good at magic he told me how one of the shows was a fake. It was the “MAN WITHOUT A HEAD”, we paid a dime and pushed into the tent. Inside was a raised platform in a corner of the tent with a man’s body dressed in shorts sitting on a stool. Instead of a head there was a gold ring around his neck with two big curved gold tubes going in and out of where the head should be. The Carnival barker told the body to raise its arm and then its foot … it did it without a head! I was amazed! Jack was NOT … he whispered in my ear and said to look at the tubes, they had mirrors that had covered the bodys face and reflected back the sides of the tent so it looked like you could see through where his head was supposed to be. That was the last time I paid $.10 to see a guy in shorts.

            The fair ended with fireworks and then Jim drove us home in the back of his pick up, it was like going for a ride in a convertible. I got to sleep over at the Heberleins. It was a hot August night so we all slept on cots on the front screened porch. We talked into the night. It was fun to have cousins with whom you could share stories, ideas and dreams. Everyone needs a family and time for sharing.

            The final highlight of a super summer was a double feature movie at the portage theatre. Two cowboy movies were to be shown with six cartoons AND the famous movie star Mr. SMILEY BURNETT will be there in person! Jack, Joan and I could hardly wait, what anticipation, what an honor to meet a movie star. The two movies were Blue Montana Skies with Smiley Burnett and my favorite cowboy, Gene Autry … and King of the Cowboys with Smiley Burnett and Jack’s favorite cowboy ROY ROGERS.

 There was a crowd of kids waiting for the matinee. We ran inside trying to get near the front of the theatre … the lights went down and then came up as Mr. Smiley Burnett walked out on stage two thunderous applause and cheering from the audience of kids. He tripped and almost fell, everyone laughed. He was so funny. He told us we would see two cartoons, then King of the Cowboys then two cartoons and then an intermission … then blue Montana skies, two final cartoons and then he, Mr. Smiley Burnett himself, would meet us all outside after the show. He reminded us to get popcorn and sodas in the lobby because we were going to be here for a long time … he changed his voice and spoke real tough and everybody laughed again because he tripped as he left the stage. Two Porky Pig cartoons were first then The King of the Cowboys started. 

Roy Rogers was a rodeo rider who worked undercover to join a Nazi spy ring. There was lots of action and Smiley Burnett did a lot of funny things. There could have been a little less singing from the Sons of the Pioneers, but we all liked it. Jack thought it was the best movie he had ever seen. During the intermission Jack and I told why we thought our cowboy was best. I thought that Roy Rogers wore too many fancy clothes and looks. My dad had said that cowboys in Montana didn’t dress like that. Dad thought movie Cowboys wore too many “fancy duds”. We got some more popcorn and headed back for the second half. I was curious about Blue Montana Skies because I had never been to Montana. In Montana my dad said it was so cold sometimes in the winter they couldn’t pick up snow to make a snowball. He had to wait for a horse to pass and then you might be able to make a snowball from the half round clips of hard snow kicked up by the horses hooves by putting the two halves together. 

            Blue Montana skies started but it was in black-and-white. Gene Autry and Smiley Burnett we’re partners with some trappers who got killed by Canadian bad guys who stole their furs. Smiley Burnett got mixed up with a live skunk, in the end the bad guys got caught with a lot less singing to sit through. After the final Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoons and a reminder to buy WAR BONDS we were all out-the-doors.

 It seemed really sunny outside as all the kids gathered for a turn to see Smiley Burnett. There was an alley next to the theatre that was closed off with wooden snow fence and a gate. The Portage police would let about 10 to 15 of us at a time go to see Mr. Burnett who was standing with a couple of farmers, another cop and two saddle horses. He look just like in the movies, but smaller. He had a big black floppy cowboy hat, checkered shirt with black pants and boots. He was sort of chubby and had a double chin which made him look like a frog … his nickname was frog … that’s probably why. He smiled at each of us and said “HOWDY”. You could take a picture with him if you had a camera, one of the parents gave everyone a small picture of the star as we passed through the alley and out the other end. Joan and Jack wanted to go to Heberleins Standard Service Station after the show. We all had too much popcorn and soda, mostly soda. It was only a few blocks away … we all ran  the last block and Joan won the race and she got to “go” first while Jack and I told his uncle Charlie Heberlein all about the movies we just saw. Uncle Charlie said it all sounded like fun, but he was too busy to go. I think most of the adults in portage were “too busy” that day as I only saw one or two in the whole theatre … well they missed a swell show and a chance to meet a big movie star.

            My parents were due to pick me up Sunday morning I had a tearful good-bye with grandma Arn and said “so long” to my cousins and everybody. Ma and dad had driven to Portage in the old Pontiac and we were going to Sparta for a brief overnight visit with Great Uncle Walt and Great Aunt Hazel that I thought would NOT be much fun.

            There wasn’t much to do in Sparta. Uncle Walt and aunt Hazel had a black and white bulldog named Toby. He sort of looks like a doorstop with short legs. Toby was getting old, he didn’t walk, he didn’t chase or bark either. He mostly like to get his belly scratched and would take naps if he found a sunny spot. Dad always brought some White Owl cigars for Uncle Walt and a box of chocolates for Aunt Hazel. 

They talked and talked and talked. I mostly sat on the front screen porch swing and petted Toby. I should have brought some toys or comics. I tried to read some old Readers Digest magazines. I went outside and pulled a few weeds in the garden. There didn’t seem to be any neighborhood kids … no one walked by. Finally I went out to sit in the Pontiac. I opened my suitcase looking for something to do. There it was. BANG STICKS! I had given most of them to Jack, but we had been too busy to use them. I had 3 left … so I thought I’d put them in my parents cigarettes … then I thought why not put all three in Uncle Walt’s cigars. They were all in the kitchen still talking and talking. I found the box of cigars and decided to put all three bang sticks and one cigar, as a cigar is much bigger than a cigarette. Like the stinky sticks, the bang sticks look like a little toothpick. I used one of Aunt Hazel’s knitting needles to push all three into the cigar and put it back in the White Owl box. 

            Uncle Walt had a cigar after supper, nothing, he had another before bed, again nothing happened. By morning I was ready to go home. Aunt Hazel had made pancakes, she always made pancakes because dad had told her I liked them. I didn’t, because they were as big as your hand you’re often runny in the middle. The pancakes took a lot of syrup to choke down. I didn’t notice that everyone had finished and Uncle Walt had lit up. Suddenly there was an EXPLOSION over the kitchen table. The room was filled with smoke … it was like a bomb had gone off. Tiny bits of tobacco everywhere, everyone had tobacco freckles. There was a shock to silence and I noticed everyone was looking at me. I flew from my chair with my dad holding my right arm. Outside we went and he was mad. I could see the wrinkles on his brow. I did get a spanking and had to wait in the backseat of a car as my parents made apologies in quickly gathered up the suitcases. We left early for a very quiet trip back to Milwaukee.

            What a summer, that ended with a bang. About a week after we left, some letters arrived from Grandma Arn and my aunts, they had come to my rescue with letters that told how I was such a good boy and a tireless helper when I was in Portage … so I wasn’t banished from the family.