A Boys Story - Chapter 4 - The Adventures of Charles Kent: Back Home

            A lot had changed over the summer while I was gone. Colleen had gotten a part-time job at the Riverview Roller Rink on North Avenue on the east end of the viaduct.


I had gone with her a few times earlier with her friends to watch them skate on the big wooden floor. There was a powerful pipe organ that was played while everyone skates and guards to see that everyone went with the flow and followed the rules. The announcer would call …"couples skate" … “all skate” … “Ladies skate” … “everyone skate slow”. Sometimes they would open up the sides of the building and music would pour out across the Milwaukee River.

            Here is where Colleen met Bill, he was an assistant manager at the East movie theatre on the corner next to the streetcar terminal on Murray.

            My parents still weren’t too happy with me after the bang sticks in Sparta so I tried extra hard to stay out of trouble. I told my dad that sometimes I got bored, so my parents bought me some art materials because I liked to draw. Most of the time I drew pictures about the War … airplanes, tents, ships charging marines and bombs going off like fireworks in the air. I got some water colors but they are kind of hard to use. For paper, dad brought me piles of white shirt cardboards from the laundry. They are used to fold clean shirts on by the workers. They work great for pencils and crayons with their smooth surface and large size.

            Colleen and I now started sharing dish washing and drying duties. As Grandma Arn had written to my parents about me being so helpful and all. It was determined that I could dry dishes that Colleen had washed. Ma had some big old Robin Hood flour sacks that worked well to dry. The picture of Robin Hood begin to fade as she threw them into the bleach load on laundry day to kill germs.



            I liked Colleens new boyfriend, Bill. I told him about meeting a movie star. He asked Sis if I was old enough to see something other than cowboy movies … like FRANKENSTEIN. I said yes … Colleen had to ask my parents and Bill provided some free passes, but I had to go with my sister. We went, it was scary. Pretty soon I had my eyes covered with my fingers in my thumbs in my ears as I peeked at the movie sitting on my sister’s lap. I think she was scared too because she gasped and jumped a couple of times. I should have known that dead bodies would lead to no good. I was glad when the movie was over. I think I was the first one out of the theatre.



            My dad told me that the war was going a little better because the Russians were starting to beat the Nazis, what good news. We started to listen to some other radio programs too. I liked The SHADOW with Lamont Cranston … it was a little scary, but the Shadow caught lotsa bad guys.


            My friends Myron, Freddie, Jimmy and Pat were all glad I was home. I told them of my adventures in Portage. I could tell they wished that they had a place like that to go to. Freddie said that there was a new girl now living upstairs over the funeral home and that he had seen her play on the upstairs porch over the portico that covered part of the driveway. Eddie, Myron, Jimmy, Pat and I went to go see. The brick portico had wooden flower boxes with red geraniums on three sides and some clothes lines above the flower boxes. We all stood near the bushes softly calling “hello, hello”. Eddie kept an eye out for the undertaker because we definitely didn’t want to meet him. Suddenly, there she was, as she looked down at us. We asked her if she lived upstairs, she said “yes”. She said she had moved in during the summer. Her name was Alice and she was about our age. We asked if she would like to come down to play marbles or something. Alice said she like to play marbles and she held up her big bag of marbles. Pat was impressed that a girl would have so many marbles. Alice went to ask her mother if she could come down to play. Her mother came out on the porch and took one look at us and said “NO”. We were all disappointed and so was Alice. We left. Eddie said he never heard of anyone who couldn’t go out and play. Myron and said he thought maybe she had been captured and Pat said he bet she was being held upstairs against her will. The more we thought about it, it seemed strange that anyone would stay in a building with dead bodies. We decided she needed to be rescued.

            We went behind the billboard next to Vitucci's and came up with a plan. It was decided we needed a ladder. Mr. Pendergast kept his ladders locked up so we decided to build one out of 2 x 4’s. We all went to find the longest pieces of wood that were available and met back behind the billboard to build our ladder. Some of the boards were too short so we nailed, cut, and hammered a bunch together to make a proper ladder. We tested it against the back of the billboard and it seemed all right. Jimmy went over to the bushes and called Alice to let her know that we had a ladder and to see if she wanted to play, she said “sure”. Four of us carried the ladder over to the porch. We stood it up against the portico … it was a little short reaching to just below the flower boxes. Jimmy and Pat held the sides of the ladder and Eddie watched the open garage in case the undertaker was around. Up the ladder I went. Alice told me to “hurry up”, I reached up grabbing the side of the flower box to pull myself up. Suddenly the flower box broke, flowers and dirt showering me, Pat and Jimmy as the ladder broke at about the same time. I fell on my friends who were covered in dirt in red geranium petals. Then Eddie shouted, “here he comes” … everyone panicked. Jimmy, Pat and I couldn’t see very well because of the dirt on our eyes. It looked like we were spotted in blood, but it was the red petals. Alice was screaming and then we heard the undertakers deep voice shouting … “Hey Stop” … “what’s going on here”. Well no one stopped! We were all hollering, trying to get the dirt out of our eyes, hair, and clothes. We all scattered in different directions and tried to get away from the undertaker. I ended up going back to Columbia Hospital with ma I get the dirt out of my eyes and to get cleaned up. Ma wanted to know what happened so I had some explaining to do.

            It turned out the Alice was very good at marbles, even better than Richie and soon she had the most marbles. The undertaker turned out to be Alice’s dad and he was a nice guy, but I still didn’t want to shake hands with him, with those hands that touched dead bodies … it made me shiver.

            Colleen’s new boyfriend, Bill asked Ma if I could help out for a special showing of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS over at the East Theatre. I could get free soda and popcorn. All I had to do was be one of the seven dwarves one Saturday. I jumped at the chance. Colleen said she thought that I would be a perfect Dopey, then she laughed. Bill had some costumes from Walt Disney Studios with big rubber facemasks that covered my head and padded shirts with four fingered gloves on the end of each sleeve. We had to put socks over our shoes and march down the aisle in time to the music. Bill lined us up in the lobby … the six other kids and me. I ended up being BASHFUL.

            “hi ho, hi ho” the music began… as we march in place, Bill opened the doors and down the aisle we went “it’s off to work we go” up onto the stage where we kept time with music and tried not to drop our cloth picks and shovels. The song ended. I tripped on stage and got a big laugh just like Smiley Burnett. We did two more performances with free popcorn and pop as a reward. It was fun being a movie star for just one day. We also got a tour of the projectionist booth. Looks like a great job … maybe when I’m older, if the war is over.



            School started again I got to introduce Alice to all the kids. She made a lot of friends, but she was not in my class. I had a new teacher Mrs. Miller, who is not my favorite teacher because she seemed mean. She gave us lotsa homework each day. She didn’t like us looking up from her desk at her, but it was hard not to look. She wore a wig. It covered her white head. Sometimes she would use the eraser end of a pencil to scratch an itchy spot and the whole wig would move, which was something to watch. She would notice as looking and see in a loud voice … “Eyes on your work, no talking”. Mrs. Rogers was a better teacher. School started again with paper drives too. Once you collected 5 pounds of paper you will get a cloth badge with the name of a famous battle. My first badge was for TARAWA. 





            Another thing that happened was that dad’s brother Luther came to live with us. He had been taking care of his mother, my Grandma Kent. Uncle Luther worked at a place that made batteries for army trucks and jeeps. He must’ve worked hard because he was always tired and dirty at the end of the day and his work clothes had hundreds of tiny holes that were made by battery acid. Uncle Luther said they were “ventilated”. My grandma Kent had been losing weight and was very frail, not at all like my Gramma Arn so it was decided that she went to live with my Aunt Gladys, Uncle George and cousin Drue. Uncle George was a fun guy, his dad owned horses that the city used to pull garbage wagons. They were big horses that pulled in teams of two. They wore brass bells on their harnesses and a big brass letter “L” for Lukowitz on some other leather stuff on their backs. I of course would point this out to other kids saying that, “those horses belong to my cousins grandfather” and “she has a horse too”. It was brown and white and Drue could ride like the wind. For me there was always something to brag about if you look for it when you are a kid.


            After reading the newspaper one evening my dad told me that the war against the Nazis was going even better because the Russians were beating the Germans in Russia. He told me about the airplanes and tank battles. We looked at our maps. He said the Russians Red Army was doing a good job. He was excited, which made me happy.

            The next day in school we had testing. Mrs. Miller passed out these sheets of paper and said something about them being important and to do our best. Well, I was still thinking about the Russians and the Germans. When my test paper was passed back to me I quickly turned it over and began drawing tanks and planes bombing the Nazis and they were running away shooting their guns and there were shells exploding in the air. I got out my colored pencils. This might be the greatest work picture I ever made. The Nazis were bleeding and falling down and the Russians were charging with bayonets right through the Barbwire and there were machine guns shooting and mortar rounds flying through the air and then the Germans threw hand grenades, but the Russians shot them in the air and the grenades blew up … and then the cannons spoke … “Times up, put your pencils down”, “I hope you all did your best”. Well I knew I did my best … wait until Mrs. Miller sees this picture!

            Mrs. Miller sent the picture home, but it didn’t get the reaction I expected. My dad had a talk with me about paying attention and I had to take the test over one day after school.

            Fall arrived early with soggy yellow leaves being blown sideways into piles against fences and bushes. Everyone tried to find something to do indoors. Jimmy Vitucci asked me if I wanted to help him sort empty beer bottles in the tavern basement. What a mess most bottles were brown, but some were clear. Some were broken and you had to be careful to not cut yourself. Most of the cases were wood and not too heavy. In one case I found a full bottle of flats and showed it to Jimmy. 



He said “did you ever try any beer?” I said “no cause it looks like pee” he said “let’s try some”, so he open the bottle on a nail that was in the wall. Jimmy took a big mouthful and pass the bottle to me. We stood there looking at each other’s balls and cheeks and started to laugh, the beer spreading from our lips all over our clothes … it tasted awful. Jim said “did you swallow any” … “Are you kidding” was my reply. “How can anybody drink that stuff.” When I got home, Ma could smelled the beer … I saw her sniffing me as I walked in. She asked “where have you been?” … “Helping Jamie move some empty beer bottles in his dad’s basement” … can you smell the beer? I got a little on my clothes” “Yes” she said, “you better wash up for supper and change your shirt.” I was sure glad she didn’t check my breath, she would never believe that some beer splashed into my mouth.

            Halloween would soon be here so my friends and I tried to decide on a good costume. I thought “Bashful” would be easy, but Bill had to send our costumes back to Walt Disney. Blackbeard the pirate in Robin Hood was considered but I didn’t think that Ma well then we have a bow and arrows or a real sword. We all had cowboy gear and soldier stuff that we often played in so that wasn’t really a costume. We were more like small real soldiers and cowboys. Hobos were chosen mostly because my dad had some brickwork that made us look like we had beards. Myron put some burnt quote on his eyebrows and upper lip so he would look like the movie funny man Groucho Marx. He even found a stick that looks like a cigar an old eyeglasses … so we ended up three hobos and Groucho Marx for Halloween.

Groucho Marx

            I still had some firecrackers left over from the 4th of July in portage. I thought they might be fun to throw into burning piles of leaves. Some of the older kids had matches and would start leaf piles on fire that were in the streets on Halloween night.

            My mom and dad generally lit their cigarettes on the gas stove knowing that matches would be very tempting for a curious boy, so matches were never around. I could carry a fire cracker in my pocket, but what about the police? … what about Officer Murphy? He might check me … ask me to show him what was in my pockets … I could be caught with illegal fire crackers. I thought of how I could hide one in a dark colored aspirin bottle … but what if Officer Murphy opened the bottle. I could say “I found the fire crackers” and to make it more convincing I could burn the top of the fuse to make it look like it went out … I had found it … that was it!

            I looked again for matches, no luck. Finally I decided I would light a fire cracker on the stove when my parents were in the kitchen … everything was ready. I emptied the aspirin bottle, the firecracker fit inside. I waited and finally after supper my uncle, parents and sis went into the living room to read and listen to the radio. I went on to announce that I was going to wash and dry dishes tonight all by myself. Everyone thought that would be all right and I thought I would be alone in the kitchen.

            I turned the gas burner on low … checked again on my parents. The coast was clear. My plan was to just burn a tiny part of the tip of the fuse of the Black Cat fire cracker. I touched the fuse to the flame … the sparking fire raced down the fuse, it was going to explode. I jammed the fire cracker into my left hand hoping to put out the fuse. The fire cracker made a “whoosh” sound as it shot fire into the palm of my left hand. I burned my hand! I shakily put the burned out fire cracker tube into the aspirin bottle and quickly turned off the stove, ran to the sink and turned on the cold water into my throbbing left hand. I opened the kitchen window and fanned the air outside with my drying towel.

            I did the dishes sort of one-handed in cold water, because even warm water felt hot on my scorched skin. No one came to check on me, but my hand was really sore and the next day it was a little swollen and kind of yellow. Only Pat saw it, he poked it with his finger and said it was like the blisters his dad would get and said I should stick a needle in it to let out the stuff inside. I used Ma’s big needle after school the next day. Out came this clear water that smelled like a firecracker. The Oriental Theatre had a special showing of the Wizard of Oz that week. What a great show that starts out in black and white and then went to color. I flinched when the wicked witch tried to burn the scarecrow … I knew just how he felt about fire … thank goodness the witch melted with water.





            Halloween arrived and it had been raining all day. There are no burning leaves this year. Most costumes were covered by raincoats and kids carried umbrellas but the 3 wet hobos and Gaucho Marx had plenty of candy that tasted good even if you’re soaked and it rained enough to keep witches away too.

            I had been saving coins by hiding them under the dining room rug until one day my mother when vacuuming discovered that the bumpy rug was caused by my collection of pocket change. My dad decided I should put my $22 into a bank savings account. The First Wisconsin National Bank was on the corner of North and Murray across the parking lot from the A & P. Ma knew the bank president, Mr. William Carey and we went to meet him with my bag of money. He knew I was coming with my mother and met us both at the door to his office and we all went in and sat in big leather chairs. He was about the same size as Aunt Hazel. His gray hair was straight back and he wore a nice dark three-piece suit with a pocket watch gold chain across his vest. Ma and I filled out some papers and then Mr. Carrey reached for my bag. I said “just a minute where are you going to put my money?” Mr. Carrey laughed and smiled and said “do you want to see the vault?” I said “sure” and Ma said “sorry”. Out of his office we all walked to the opposite end of the bank to see the vault and test the strength of the huge steel door. I was satisfied.



 They counted my money again and I got a little book with my name on it, along with a free piece of candy from the teller. I came back often for the free candy that I got with every deposit. After several deposits of nickels and dimes, the teller told me I should save at least a dollar before coming to make a deposit.

            My money grew with interest and Mr. Carrey turned out to be a nice man who always greeted me and shook my hand or he waved at me if he was busy. I told my friends that the president was my friend, it was something else a kid could brag about. The bank was never held up by bank robbers with machine guns. I watched out for them along with watching for Nazis and Japs.

            My mother got a new part-time job some nights working at an auction gallery on North Avenue. Her job was to help the auctioneers by pointing at things and holding them up as they were being sold. The crowd of people were bidding on that items being held. Once in a while she would buy some old stuff. She got an old clay bowl made by Indians, some fancy painted plate that you could only look at, but not used for eating. She got a great big tall fancy Chinese vase with handles. It was glazed and green with tall wading birds all over it. It was very, very old and had Chinese writing on one side and black and red. Ma proudly displayed it on our dining room table. I was told “hands off” and I didn’t touch it. Dad got a new job too. He wanted to work someplace to help in the war effort. He had taken some classes to learn about plastics, which was pretty new. Kampa Plastics made a lot of injection molded parts for the war. They also made plexiglass windows for airplanes and lotsa little parts for things. Mr. Kampa was a chemist and was very smart. The shop foreman was Billy Naton and he liked my dad they became friends. There was alot of War work and dad worked his regular hours plus overtime every week … pretty soon he got a promotion. We had many blessings to be thankful for the time I got to be Thanksgiving. The world was going better and my parents were happy with their lives. They will call each other “Pal” … like “hey pal do you want me to help you with that”. I had heard my friends parents use “hun” or “honey” or “sweetie” … my parents were friends … PALS which I liked. 

            For Thanksgiving, Ma proved again that she was the best cook in the world, but I guess lotsa kids like their mothers cooking. Graham Cracker pie was my favorite and we only had it once a year … it tasted SO GOOD.

            You could tell that Christmas was coming because all of the ads in the newspapers and on the radio. Ma and our downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Reichel will go shopping to the downtown stores. I’d like to go to if they were going to Gimbels cause they had window displays that moved with little elves and workshops. 


I also liked riding on the streetcar. Ma and I would walk over to the terminal between the East Theatre in the A&P. You could wait in this long room with windows until your streetcar came. They had a Chiclets gum machine that cost a penny for 2 pieces of white gum in a little yellow box … and sometimes if he pushed in the chrome button twice you would get two boxes for a penny. 








On the radio each night you could listen to Billie the Brownie who is a friend of Santa Claus. Billy would read real letters from kids to Santa and remind us to visit Schusters Department Store and see Billy’s Toyland.



Schusters who has a big tall store on third Street in North Ave. The Christmas Parade started there each year and went down 3rd Street to Wisconsin Ave all the way to Gimbels on the Milwaukee River. Billy the Brownie would stand next to Santa’s sleigh and wave to me when the parade went by. Santa was sort of a mystery to me. He would get me some nice things, but some stuff like a real bow and arrow set or a Red Ryder air rifle … well I never got them even though I made promises in my letters to Santa to never shoot my sister or any birds. No guns or arrows for Christmas.






            My sister kept singing SANTA CLAUS  IS COMING TO TOWN and then she would look at me closely and sing slowly about him … “He’s making a list checking it twice, gonna  find out who’s naughty and nice” … the creepy part was … “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows if you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.” I didn’t want anybody to really “know” the things I did … maybe that was the reason for not getting the toys I really, really wanted.

            Listening to Billie the Brownie on the radio one night I I thought maybe Ma and I should go to Billy’s Toyland to see what else I might find. Ma, Dad and I drove to Schusters one snowy night. You could park behind their store in the big parking lot. They had a parking attendant high up on the third floor in the back of the building who would direct you to a vacant spot … “Black Pontiac, row 3 at the back.” We all danced through the snow into the building and caught the escalator to Toyland. We could hear the Christmas music as we rose up slowly to our floor. You could see the arched entrance sign spelling out TOYLAND. I never saw so many toys and ran from one display to the next with my parents in tow, suddenly there it was. A complete LIONEL model railroad with trains puffing real smoke and sleek diesel locomotives racing in the opposite direction. Crossing gates going up and down, train whistles sounding, and locomotive headlights passing right by my nose … which was pressed against the half-glass sides of the train display.



            I have always liked trains, but the real ones were always moving, always going somewhere in a hurry and hard to really see as a blur passed you, puffing and whistling as the train cars swayed a little from side to side, the wheels making a click – click – click - click  sound.

            I had some new ideas for Christmas toys after looking at everything. Before we left, ma asked if I wanted to see Santa and Billy who were over near a corner. Santa sitting in a big gold and red chair next to a fireplace, I got to thinking about that darn song … “He knows if you’ve been bad or good” … and decided I still had some time to improve my “GOOD record” … I better wait. I waved to Billy and we left. A couple of days later I was telling my friends about Billie's Toyland and how I liked LIONEL TRAINS. Well, Eddie Hamilton said that LIONEL was fake and that he thought that AMERICAN FLYER Trains were better. “Lionel has three tracks, did you ever see three tracks for a real train?” … “American Flyer looks real because it has two tracks” and so we debated back-and-forth. It was like comparing Gene Autry in Roy Rogers with Jack. After a while I really didn’t care, actually American Flyer would be O.K. … arguing can make a kid tired.  Alan Goodsett was in my class at Maryland Avenue school.

Maryland Primary School Class Picture - try to find Chuck, I can't :)



         We would play together at recess sometimes and we talked often. He lived in a big apartment building on Cramer Street up the hill from where I lived. One day I was talking to him about Christmas gifts and he asked me if I knew about Hanukkah … I didn’t. I was invited to go to his apartment to play and meet his family. Mom said it was 0.K. so one day after school I went to Alan’s apartment with him. The building was made of red bricks in the inside walls were Spanish plaster with all lights that look like yellow torches on the walls. Alan’s whole family lived there … he had ants in uncles and cousins on every floor. The hallway doors to many apartments were open and we walked in for her brief visit. It was the best smelling building I had ever been in. Everybody was cooking something different and Alan and I were offered many “samples” and everything was really good. Alan's ma was a good cook too. She fixed something called a brisket that you could eat on a warm bun. I learned about Jews and Hanukkah and the menorah with lighting of candles … it was very interesting. Alan and I decided to play Monopoly in his room. Suddenly there was a big commotion when his uncle arrived. His name was Charles, like mine … but everyone knew him as “BUCKETS” GOLDENBERG. He was a champion Green Bay Packer. I was introduced and he shook my small hand in his big hand. He had dark hair parted on top and seemed to like kids. Alan got a big hug. We talked with him for a while and then Alan and I went back to finish our game.


            A couple of days later School Alan brought a picture of his Uncle Buckets and his Green Bay Packers uniform #31. My dad really liked the picture and took it to work to show his friends. Alan was also a source of bubblegum too, but the teachers didn’t allow you to chew gum in school. Bubblegum was new and it was hard to find. Alan would sell it to you for a nickel or if you had Indianhead penny … you could buy it for a penny. Alan had a coin collection.

            Summerfield Methodist Church was having a Christmas program and the Sunday school classes were all busy with activities. Our teacher got a big piece of white paper off of a roll. We are all going to draw the STORY of CHRISTMAS in pencil and crayons. The class decided to do a picture of the manger at Bethlehem. We were all asked about our drawing ability and the kids who didn’t draw too well we’re given sheep, chickens and bushes to draw. I was given Joseph because I could draw pretty good. My friend Freddy was to draw the baby Jesus. Well we all worked on sheep, shepherds, wise men and camels, but Freddy kept missing Sunday school. Soon the picture was done except for baby Jesus. Our teacher did the stable, the palm trees and the star. All the sheep and people in the picture we’re looking towards the empty bed in the straw. Finally Freddie came to church, he had been real sick. The teacher had the rest of us rehearse “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” for the program while Freddy was busy on the picture behind us on the wall. This song ended and Freddy announced “I’m done” …  we all turned to admire the completed picture. What we saw was that Freddy had drawn a teddy bear in the manger. He explained that he didn’t know how to “draw babies” and thought a teddy bear would be a good baby gift along with gold, frankincense and myrrh. The story of Christmas picture was quickly displayed in the church foyer and got a lot of comments from the congregation. 

            I did write a letter to Santa and told him I would like a Lionel train, but American flyer would be O.K. too. I didn’t mention the toys I never got or that I was still working on “goodness”. As I thought about it again I probably should have talked to Santa at Toyland … then I got an idea … I would wake up for Santa on Christmas Eve. I didn’t tell my parents but went to bed as usual. I saw them crack open my bedroom door to check on me later and I pretended to sleep. I waited and waited until the house was completely quiet. The only sound I could hear was the clock on the dining room buffet. The house was cold and quiet. I dragged my quilt and pillow off my bed and made a little nest behind the davenport in the living room. I checked the milk and cookies that were left for Santa beside the darkened Christmas tree … Santa had not arrived yet. I could see underneath the couch with the moonlight that came through the windows. I waited and waited … no Santa. It was hard to keep awake. I started silently counting the ticks of the clock as my eyes slowly closed. I peeked out from behind the couch hoping to see black boots, I was out.

            Ma said she saw my slippered foot sticking out from behind the couch when she got up … she let me sleep well she and Dad fixed a big breakfast. I awoke to see an empty milk glass and cookie plate … everyone sitting in the living room looking at the Christmas tree, it’s light shining and tinsel swaying as my sister walked by. They were looking at the piles of wrapped gifts. Well I didn’t catch Santa to talk with him, but I got some gifts that I didn’t ask for like a TRU-MATIC machine gun that sat on a tripod and shot wooden bullets when I turned the crank on the side. I did shoot my sister, but just in the legs after she hit me in the head with a pillow.


I didn’t get a train. Eddie didn’t get one either … guess we were both too bad. My dad gave me an interesting gift that he got from work it was a large box full of army surplus microphone boxes that were flat. You could fold them into small boxes that looked like and stacked just like a brick. There were thousands of them. Over the Christmas vacation my friends and I assemble them and begin making walls and forts in tunnels. Myron like them a lot and came over to play often. With my dad working many hours at his new job I would go to the A & P after school each day to be with mom. The manager was Mr. Fred Miller. I asked him if his mother was a teacher at Maryland Avenue School … he said “no” and “that he didn’t know her”. He didn’t mind me being around. I will bring shopping carts in from the parking lot and do other things to be helpful like walk a big mop broom up and down the isles if it wasn’t too busy. The butchers were interesting to watch when they off-loaded a half of a black and white cow. In the back room they had an overhead track with hooks on metal wheels. They would hang the half cows rear leg on a sharp hook and roll it into the cooler where they took the hide off inside and chopped it into smaller pieces of meat. There was a box chute in the break room and a kind of box escalator to move boxes of canned goods up and down from open storage planks in the basement. I would slide down the box chute on flat pieces of cardboard … it was just like a steep playground slide.

            Sometimes I would sit in the corner of a little office if my mother was doing bookkeeping … I could do some of Mrs. Miller’s homework or just read. A & P had a magazine called Womans Days, but it wasn’t very interesting it never had cartoons. 



Once I told Mr. Miller that I knew how to open the store safe. I had seen Mr. Miller open it a few times … it only took four numbers. He asked me to show him that I knew how to do it … that turned out to be a bad idea as I was not allowed in the office anymore.

            During the war, Kellogg Company put small round pins in boxes of PEP cereal. The pins each had the insignia of a USA military unit. I had collected about 10 of them from boxes of PEP at home. I had PEP each morning for breakfast and put the pins on my beanie or my coat. I started to get duplicate pins and thought maybe I could just trade them in exchange for an insignia that I didn’t have. 






I got a KUTTO box cutter from the shelf near the time clock and went into the store basement to find a case of Kellogg’s Pep … I found three cases. I carefully opened the cardboard packing box and took out the 24 boxes of cereal. I sliced open each one and felt around in the cereal until my hand touch the pins cellophane wrapper. Another one that I didn’t have! … I would be the “first kid in my block to have a complete collection”. I pinned them all proudly on my jacket, marched upstairs to show Ma. She ended up buying 37 boxes of Pep. I got so sick of eating the same thing day after day and Colleen hated it too. She would glare at me across the kitchen table as she took a big wet spoonful from her bowl.

            Some of my friends got new sleds for Christmas. The best place for sledding was Riverside Park near Riverside High School on the Milwaukee River. The park has some hills that sloped toward the river or north toward the school. The river wasn’t safe and all the kids knew not to walk on the frozen river. There are even signs on the trees warning DANGER. We all liked Devils Hill. The hill was steep with a big bump about halfway down the hill. The sleds metal runners made grooves in the snow covered hill. Our galoshes packed the snow tight and with an overnight freeze Devils Hill became a steep angled ice pond where we flew faster than a car. Some kids steered for the bump, some steered around it. I tried the bump once and fell off my sled down the icy hill on my frozen mittens and knees. Heavy coats, snow pants, boots, scarfs and multiple mittens kept us from freezing and injury. Snot was a problem. We would plug one nostril and blow the other nose into a bush, Eddie generally had the most snot and could decorate a small bush with a spider like web of frozen snot. We would all contribute to the effort and the bush would look like a crocheted doily after the multiple efforts of all the guys. The girls said it “was disgusting” … the boys thought it was a masterpiece.

            Sometimes your frozen mittens would be stiff and crack as we pulled on our sled ropes going up the hill. After a couple hours of sledding all our wet clothing would become stiff so we trudged home. Little dark fat sausages steaming past the halo of light from the tall street lamps … pulling our sleds too tired to talk.

            As the winter grew colder we made snowmen and snow forts with a stockpile of hundreds of snowballs in case the Nazis or Japs decided to invade. Eddie and I decided to try to make an igloo in Eddie’s backyard, but we couldn’t get the roof right as it kept falling in on us. We finally just built the walls tall enough for us to stand up in and used some wood and cardboard to make a top. That was fine but the inside was a little dark until we froze some water in garbage can lids to make windows. Myron still didn’t like to come in to the igloo because he thought it would fall in on us and bury us in snow. He said we were “saps” and “we’re going to die”. Eddie and I thought it was safe enough and to make it more comfortable we put cardboard on the floor to sit on. We had some discussions in the privacy of our igloo, but one plan got us all in trouble again … we decided to stop a train.

            Eddie and I really liked trains. We had both asked for toy trains for Christmas. Every day a big freight train pulled by a steam action will come slowly puffing under the North Avenue bridge near Oakland hauling a bunch of boxcars and a caboose. We figured out that the steam coming out of the top of the engine is what made the train go. We decided that if we dropped a big snowball down the train smokestack that the train would stop and we could all get a really close look at it. We decided to get the other boys to help and everyone thought it was a good idea as everyone was interested in trains. The train tracks ran below the street level that passed under the bridge each day about 1:20 in the afternoon. We could tell from the new clock in the Packard showroom. The weather forecast was for snow one Saturday after we made our plan. The sidewalks and streets were not plowed yet as it was still snowing around noon. The snow is perfect, not to wet or powdery. This was it! We rolled up a snowball we thought would fit down the train smokestack. We brought along some 2x4’s  to make a litter (stretcher) like they used for wounded troops. We rolled the snowball on to the litter and waited on the bridge. The bridge was made of steel that was held together with large rivets, the top was flat. Cars crossing the bridge didn’t seem to notice us as they drove through the snowstorm trying not to bump into each other. Suddenly Pat shouted to us from the south side of the bridge “Here it comes!” He could see the headlight of the approaching engine through the falling snow … then he ran across the bridge to help us. We all struggled to lift the big snowball to the flat top of the bridge and slid it to a spot directly over the track below. We could hear the engine as it approached under the bridge. Eddie and I looked over the edge of the bridge while the rest of the guys had hands on the snowball listening for us to shout “now”. The bridge trembled as the train smoke hammered the  underside of the bridge “NOW!”, we shouted in unison as the hot smoke struck in our faces. That was the last thing I saw … we were blinded! Pat ran to get her parents as we sat with her eyes shut pressing snow against our singed faces. I could tell that my face was hot. Eddies dad and my ma drove us to Columbia hospital. Nurse Rita flushed out our eyes and we could see you again. Eddie and I looked like our faces had been sunburned, no damage except for another spanking. Later our dad’s took us to the Milwaukee Road Depot to see trains up close after we all made a solemn promise not to drop anything on a train ever again.

            Our downstairs neighbors were the Rachels. Mr Rachel hada rug cleaning business called MAGIKIST RUG CLEANERS with his grandson, Al. 



They also had a German Shepherd dog called MARCO who was trained as a guard dog and kids were not to pet him. Marco didn’t bark, but was always watching out the front windows and made me feel safe. Every few weeks Mr. Rachel would have a Sheepshead game that he called “ SCHAFSKOPF” downstairs in his kitchen. 



My Dad and Uncle Luther were always invited. As the weather got warmed the men would open the windows to let the smoke out as they smoked and drank beer from bottles. The back hall door was left open for ventilation and I could watch them playing cards from the back hallway that ran from the attic to the basement. Sometimes when the men we’re busy with the card games I would explore the basement with Marco. I found some cigar boxes full of darts that my dad had used when he belonged to a dartboard league at church. Some of the darts were old and somewhere new. I figure dad wouldn’t mind if I would use some old darts for practice. I drew a bull’s-eye on one of the wooden basement walls with some chalk and tried to throw the darts underhanded like I saw my Dad do in church. Marco tried to catch the darts in the air, he was very quick. I was afraid I might stick him so I found a rope and tied him to a pipe. As I started to throw the next dart, Marco jumped and bumped me … I stuck the dart in my leg. It really hurt. I pulled it out and it didn’t bleed much, but I quickly lost interest in darts. I untied Marco and limped upstairs to find iodine and a Band-Aid. I figured if ma saw the Band-Aid I could tell her I sat on a pencil at school, which should keep me out of trouble. I wondered if all kids how to tell a little white lies so they didn’t get into constant trouble. I wondered if Santa knew the truth or if God was also watching everybody, I hope not. I did want God to watch our soldiers and sailors to keep them safe. When God is watching me I hope he blinks a lot.

            As the weather continues to grow warmer, news of the war in Germany was better. Our soldiers were beating the Nazis and gaining ground … the bad news was that the Japs were now flying planes INTO our ships trying to blow them up. I worried about my cousin Bob and the sailors getting bombed. Then there was other bad news too. President Roosevelt had died. My parents had seen pictures of him at the movies recently and Ma thought he looked tired with dark circles under his eyes. Everyone was said. The new president was Harry Truman. Lotsa people didn’t know much about him, but dad said we should give him a chance. Truman had been a soldier in World War I. Ma thought his wife Mrs. Truman was a sourpuss not at all like Mrs. Roosevelt whom Ma admired.

            VE day arrived, that stood for Victory in Europe. May 8th was celebrated by  church bells and factory whistles. The Milwaukee Journal had many pictures of people celebrating and cheering in the streets. 



The nightly radio reports told of many parties and celebrations in England and other Allied countries. Everybody was relieved that the Nazis surrendered and never bombed Milwaukee. My parents were both very happy. Dad looked forward to getting tires for the Pontiac or maybe even a new car, but first we had to beat the Japs. The school year ended and old Mrs. Miller announce to the class that she would be our teacher again in the fall, we moaned, she then said we all needed to improve our writing skills and she was going to give everyone an assignment for over the summer recess … we moaned again. The assignment was to keep a daily diary for the summer. A DIARY! My sister keeps a diary and she writes mushy stuff. I know because I’ve read some of it … it was about as interesting as Womens Day magazine. Many kids raised their hands and waved them some said aloud “this isn’t fair” Mrs. Miller would hear none of it and raised her voice to quiet us down. “The required assignment is to write at least one full page of everything that you do on each day of the summer vacation in full detail. You may not write … I got up, I ate breakfast, I ate lunch and supper and went to bed … that would earn a failing grade”. Mrs. Miller read some examples of what she wanted. What a depressing thing to happen just one step from freedom. I hate Mrs. Miller, I hope her wig falls off into the wastebasket and we would all laugh at her bald head. I told my dad about old Mrs. Miller’s assignment. I was surprised he sided with her. He said writing was an important skill and he would help remind me each day, so would ma.  Everybody forgot. I had to go back to remember the stuff I did the day before. I hate Mrs. Miller. A kids life can be boring from day to day, not that much happens and we do some things without thinking about them. I began to write about my boring life. Now I can go back and read about my boring life … it was going to be a very long summer. On the first weekend of summer, dad said “it’s summer we should go fishing.” The first thing I thought about was the story.

Dear Diary: today is Saturday, June 16, 1945. I woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning when my father called my name. Today we went fishing at Moose Lake. My father and me caught nightcrawlers last night. My mother made us a lunch. We drove in a car with lights on. We rented a row boat. My dad rowed the boat, I sat in the back. I had to pee in the lake. We had long bamboo poles. My dad put a red and white bobber on fish line and a hook and a night crawler. I caught a blue gill fish that was too small. The sun came up. We caught more fish to keep in a pail. My father rowed us back to the shore. We had lunch. My dad cleaned the fish and cut out their guts. I walked up the hill. I saw apple trees with little apples. I saw a white boxes stacked up. Bees lived in the boxes. I got stung by the bees. My dad got stung by the bees. We drove home and my mother made fish for supper and I went to bed. Sunburn and bee stings made it hard to sleep. The end.

I recovered from my bee stings with the help of some ointment Ma got from the Oriental  Pharmacy … but first she had to get all the stingers out with tweezers. My head and back were the worst. My head and face had all these bumps. Eddie said it looked like I had a little marbles under my skin. I had never seen a beehive before and I never want to see one again. I don’t even like honey very much.

            By the time of the A & P Company picnic I was fully recovered except my head was still a little sore. Ma had gotten a real white sailors hat for me to wear, which I liked. All the employees from all the A & P stores in Milwaukee met at Washington Park where the zoo is located. We didn’t go inside to see the animals in the zoo part, but you could hear some of the monkeys and smell something that smelled like animals when the wind blew toward you. The A & P had a big tent with free soda and beer with little cups of ice cream for the kids. They had contests and races for all different age groups. Ma and Dad almost won a game where Ma had to feed a small bottle of Coke to Dad except he had to drink it through a baby bottle nipple which made the Coke all foamy and he burped a lot. Then Dad and Luther had to throw a raw egg back and forth as a team and try to catch it without the egg breaking. There were only about 12 teams playing because eggs were still hard to get. My dad threw too hard once and Uncle Luther caught the eggshell but it got all over his face and shirt … the mess made the crowd laugh. I tried the legged race with my cousin Drue, but we weren’t very good. I tried the potato sack race to but got beat. All the kids got a free box of cracker jacks for everything they tried … I tried everything. 



At the end of the afternoon I had boxes of cracker jack to last weeks. The A & P had hired a band to play in the tent. They laid down a wooden floor on the grass and had strings of lightbulbs strung inside the tent which attracted lots of bugs. I saw my parents dancing and my aunts and uncles too. The band played polka and slow dances too. Glad Aunt Hazel wasn’t here.

            We went back to Washington Park for fireworks and a concert at the Blatz Band Shell on the 4th of July. 



I loved the music and all the kids got small American flags were encouraged to march up and down the aisles in time to the Sousa Band Music. The fireworks started over the park lagoon as the crowd sat on blankets to watch. The “bombs in mid air “were very loud, first there was a flash and then a boom that you heard and felt. The show ended with all sorts of fireworks going off at the same time. Then the smoke drifted toward us so the crowd cheered and picked up blankets from the damp grass, walking quietly back to the old Pontiac for a ride home. I fell asleep with my head on Colleen’s lap. 

        One rainy Saturday my friends and I were trying to think of something to do. First we wanted it to stop raining, so we stood on the downstairs front porch and chanted … RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY COME AGAIN SOME OTHER DAY … it didn’t work, it seemed to be raining harder. My dad was taking care of me. Ma and Colleen we’re both working. Dad was building two Adirondack chairs in the basement and he let my friends and I watch him measure and saw the pieces he needed. He had found a plan in the Popular Mechanics magazine, he was making a set of chairs for the upstairs porch. Myron whispered to me to ask if we could go upstairs and build something with those microphone boxes. I asked Dad and he said it would be “OK”. Four of us marched back up the stairs to the attic and carried load after load after load of the brick size boxes down to the living room and dining room. We decided to build a castle from one room to the other. Dad came up to check our progress. The castle walls went up and up. We took other cardboard boxes and made windows. I thought our castle should have an American flag so I brought ours in off the porch, it was a little wet. I got it to stand up inside a big cardboard box. We had to stand on dining room chairs to place the last bricks on top of the castle. We were standing there admiring our castle when the damp flag suddenly fell over hitting the dining room table. The flag pole struck Ma’s Green Chinese vase. I watched as the vase fell on its side rolling across the table edge before anyone could move it crashed to the floor. Dad heard the crash and came running. My friends are frozen in place. The vase, Ma’s cherished vase … the antique vase from ancient China was broken into many small pieces. It couldn’t be fixed, you couldn’t buy another one. Ma would KILL ME.

            The castle came down, my friends all went home and the gray rainy day added to my misery. I was sent to my room to await my mother and my fate. Ma shrieked, she cried … I could hear her through my bedroom door “why can’t I ever have anything nice” “how did this happen … CHARLES!” I was summoned to the dining room with a pile of broken face parts on the center of the table. Ma was MAD, as angry as I had ever seen her. Dad and Colleen just stood there looking down with their arms folded across their chest. Ma came toward me, very close to me and continued to holler … I can’t remember what she said. I was crying too and couldn’t really see her.

            Then she turned to Colleen and said “get your coat we're taking Charles to the orphanage.” Wait, I thought … Ma is sending me to live with the orphans “WAIT” … I pleaded … “ I CAN BE GOOD!” Ma pointed toward the door. Colleen had me by the arm, she was crying too. Down the front hall stairs we went, out the door. Ma was standing on the upstairs porch. I was crying really loud and trying to pull away from my sister. I kept shouting “PLEASE NO” as I stretched my free arm toward my mother. “MA I’LL BE GOOD … I’LL BE THE BEST BOY EVER

        Colleen and I got to the corner of Cramer and Thomas, she half dragged me into the street. Suddenly my mother raised her arm and said … “WAIT.” “Colleen, Ma said WAIT” I said as I pointed to Ma on the porch. Colleen and I looked up toward Ma standing, arms folded at the corner of the porch … she waved her arms and said “bring him back.”

            Mom and I had a long talk in the bedroom. There were some new rules and Ma explained everything, I even got a hug and some kisses. I was prepared to eat all my meals in my room for the rest of my life, but I was allowed to eat with my family. I was even more thankful than at Thanksgiving. I never want to ever lose my family. Everybody smiled a little at me as we ate supper together. My eyes were still a little leaky as we ate. After supper, Colleen even gave me a hug as we washed and dried the dishes, I think I’m gonna be O.K.

            The newspaper had an amazing headline on August 9th the US had dropped an ATOMIC BOMB on the Japs. I have never heard of an atom bomb, but it sure made my parents excited. Dad read the story to me and we all listened to the radio news after supper. It was frightening news and good news. President Truman was trying to make the Japs surrender. Maybe the atom bomb would do it. A week or so later we were still at war with Japan. A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki … a lot of poor Japs were going to die. Tojo and their emperor better surrender and make peace soon or the island of Japan might sink. It happened! The Japs surrendered, it was VJ Day. Victory over Japan lead to many celebrations. All the troops were coming home. Uncle Nick was coming home, so is my uncle Billy and cousin Bob … they were all safe. My mother and her sisters began calling each other and writing letters. There was a lot of joy. On September 2, 1945 the Japs surrendered to General MacArthur on board the USS Missouri in the harbor of Tokyo Bay.




            My Aunt Flora said she had received a letter from my Uncle Mickey. He said he would be to the states as soon as possible. Mickey said he was “very anxious to see her” … and that “she better be the first girl he sees when he gets off the ship”. Flora said she wrote back to Mickey that she was just as anxious to see him and that “he better be the first marine off the boat.”

            When school started in September everyone seemed happier. There was a lot to be happy about as we waited outside for the bell to ring and the doors to open.

            I have completed my daily diary “WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER” with a page or a page and a half for every day. Eddie was in a panic, he had spent most of the summer in Kentucky and had completed only a few pages of his diary … he wanted to mooch some ideas from my diary as he feverishly worked to add a few more pages. I told him to scram.

            We pounded up the stairs to Mrs. Miller’s room. The teacher at the door was not Mrs. Miller. We all went inside and sat in the long rows of cast iron desks with wood tops and fold-up wood seats. We waited silently and whispered a little about where is Mrs. Miller … who is that teacher in the hall. The bell rang and the teacher walked in going to the blackboard where she wrote her name, MRS. SONNENBERG. She turned to the class saying “I understand you are expected to return to Mrs. Miller’s class this fall. Well Mrs. Miller has retired after 35 years and I will be your teacher this year.”

            Stunned silence was broken by Eddie who let out a WHOOPIE!!! cheer that was soon joined by everybody, I wave my hand holding my precious Diary … the cheering quieted down and the teacher pointed to me saying “yes?” What about the diaries we kept? Mrs. Sonnenberg said “oh they won’t be necessary.” Eddie cheered again and then leaned over toward me and said “SAP” … I hate Mrs. Miller. We had some new kids in class and Mrs. Sonnenberg turned out to be a very good teacher. I’m glad that Mrs. Miller retired, but it still seemed like she did that diary project knowing she wasn’t coming back … I felt like a knucklehead.

            The school year went quickly and soon it was October. Planning for Halloween was on everyone’s mind. Some of the girls were talking about having parties at their homes. Eddie decided he wanted to be General Douglas MacArthur. His sister was going to let him use some aviator sunglasses and an army cap. She had sewn stars on an army shirt that she made smaller. We found some old corn cobs in the Victory garden and dad helped us make them look like a corn cob pipe. My dad said that during the depression he worked on Bill Marquettes’ farm near Sparta and they used dried corn cobs to wipe their butts in the outhouse. I was going to try it once, but my parents got suspicious when I left some dried corn cobs in the bathroom. My parents just don’t want me to try things and do experiments. I was going to be a Hill Billy with raggedy old bib overalls, a flannel shirt with a floppy straw hat. Black jack gum for my missing teeth in a corn cob pipe. Pat had some yellow curtain material that his sister Maureen helped him make into a clown outfit with big red polka dots. He made some big cardboard shoes to fit over his regular shoes hoping it wouldn’t rain again this Halloween. 

“Do you believe in witches?” Eddie asked me one afternoon as we were talking about our plans. I said I only saw them in the movies and Pat said he didn’t know for sure. 

“Would you like to see a real one?” 

“You’re kidding” … “Aren’t you?” I said.

 “Nope” said Eddie “I discovered where one lives just a few blocks from here on Belleview.” Well it wasn’t late in the afternoon so we decided to follow Eddie to this house up at St. Peter and St. Pauls' Church. 

As we walked, Pat and I both asked “Eddie, how do you know this woman is a witch?” 

He said some kids that go to the St. Peter and St. Pauls school told him about her so he snuck over late one afternoon to see what he could see. 

“She lives in this really old house that is dark and covered in vines. There are tall pine trees in the front yard you can’t see in the windows. She sits in an old rocking chair on the front porch and shouts at you if you walk by or she stands inside her front door and looks at you and growls.” 

"What does she look like?" we asked.

“She is really ugly and has white hair that sticks out from her head. She has a big nose and lotsa cats that look out of the windows. The window frames are painted red and she never has lights on inside.” 

We hurried along. None of us wanted to see a witch if it was getting dark. As we turned the corner on the street where the witch lived, Eddie walked on the north side of the street and patina on the south side of the street. As we approached you could spot the house immediately. The grass was overgrown and pinecones covered the sidewalk. The house was very dark and quiet. Eddie slowed as he approached on the sidewalk. Pat and I walked parallel to Eddie on our side of the street. 

“I see you boys” … “You don’t belong here … get away from here … GO AWAY” the witch shouted. 

Pat and I both panicked and ran back the way we came. 

“Did you see her?” I asked as we breathlessly reach the corner. 

“No” said Pat. 

A minute later we heard more shouting as Eddie ran to catch up. 

“Did you see her?,” asked Eddie as he bent over to catch his breath … 

“No.” We both replied. 

“She was standing inside behind her screen door holding a broom” said Eddie. 

Pat and I both looked at each other and repeated … “A broom!” 

Eddie replied “she doesn’t use that broom for sweeping, didn’t you see all those pinecones?” 

Witches only use a broom for one thing! It was settled, Eddie had found a real witch. The three of us decided we would do trick or treat first on Halloween night to get some candy and then we would go to the witches house for some tricks. I thought we could get some buckets of water like in the Wizard of Oz, but Pat didn’t think it would be good to melt someone. Eddie said he had a better trick. We could put some dog poop in a paper bag, put the bag on her porch and set it on fire … the witch would stomp on the bag to put out the fire because she couldn’t use water! What a nifty plan. For several days before Halloween I would go out in my backyard and collect fresh dog poop from Marco. Generally Mr. Rachel would pick it up, but I got there first. I saw him looking around the yard caring his little shovel and shaking his head. Halloween night came and we all zipped from house to house filling our treat bags. It was dry, windy and dark … perfect. Pat got rid of his cardboard clown shoes and Eddie took off his dark aviator glasses so he could see better. I ditched my straw hat … we were ready.

            Pat and I were to slowly walk by the witches house singing. We thought that would get her attention and he was to sneak through the tall pine trees, climb up the side of her front porch with the bag of dog poop and start the fire. It was getting late by the time we got to the witches street no one was trick or treating … we seemed to be the only kids there. We waited at the corner looking towards the witches house. We saw two little kids in costumes coming towards us … as they passed her house they started to run. 

Pat raised his hand and said “did you kids see the witch?” 

“Yes” they said … 

“She smoking a cigarette inside the front door” said one kid … 

“She growled at us” said the other. 

No one else was around, it was time to strike. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go sang Pat and me … Eddie faded into the bushes and Pine trees. As we got to her  the screefront walk the screen door opened and she came out onto her porch silently. Her white hair was long, she ehaled a big cloud of cigarette smoke. Two cats ran out and ran toward us and the street. “QUIET” she shouted “SHUT UP.” Pat and I kept singing trying not to run … we walked faster stepping over piles of leaves trying to give Eddie a chance to start the bag on fire. The witch flicked her cigarette toward us when we didn’t pay her any attention. She started down the porch steps onto her front walk toward us. 

“HEY DO YOU TWO HEAR ME” 

“Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho” 

“SHUT THE HELL UP” 

“its off to work we go.” 

She paused and looked toward her porch “FIRE” screamed the witch as she ran back climbing her porch stairs. “BANG” the bag exploded as the witch approached showering lots of burning paper and dog poop.

            Pat and I took off running east and McArthur leaped off the porch heading west. The plan was to run to Marilyn’s school and meet in the playground near the swing. Pat and I got there first … no Eddie. We sat on the swings and ate some Halloween candy we had in our pockets. “What exploded?” Pat asked “what was in that bag of poop?” Eddie arrived and solved the mystery. He had put an M-80 firecracker in the bag as a surprise for the witch. He said he had gotten away clean and hid behind some trees to watch the witch. Eddie said she was really angry, shouting and cussing and she swept off the porch with a broom. Eddie said he could see everything because she turned on the porch light. Eddie said she was really ugly as she smoked, cussed and swept. “Where did you get an M-80?” I asked. “Kentucky” said Eddie as he reached into a pocket to show us some more. “Let’s burn some leaf piles and set them off on our way home.” This year the tricks were better than the treats.

            Beside having a new teacher at Maryland Avenue school, my Aunt Ormie and Uncle Bill had moved from Portage to Milwaukee. Uncle Bill had a new job as a welder. Ma was happy to have another sister and her family living closer to us. Ma and I would catch a bus to visit their place. My cousin Judy had some kid sized furniture, a little padded chair that looked like a big chair only kid sized. I could sit in it when we visited. Judy also had a new little sister who was very cute. Her name is Linda. My aunt Mary was another of my mother sisters her husband was Elmer Redimann and they didn’t have any kids. They lived in Milwaukee too. Elmer was called Skinny cause he was so thin. He worked at Allis Chalmers. Now that the world war was over he got a new 1946 Ford sedan. It was burgundy it had four doors with a sun visor, radio and heater. Dad’s old Pontiac looked like a wreck next to the new shiny Ford. I think dad was envious.

            Uncle Mickey McMahon was a Marine and the first of the service members from my family that returned from the South Pacific. He was a swell guy and had married mom’s sister Flora, who was called Poke or Pokey. In the 4th Marines, Mick was in a Sherman tank that had many battles against the Japs. 

When he came to visit us he was all tan and had a real short haircut, with no sideburns. He always called me BUTCH. I told him was that I didn’t like being called baby Charles or little Charles and BUTCH was a great name. Uncle Mick had a younger brother who is also a Marine and he was called little Mick, his name is Jack. Mick and Flora came to our house. Mick was in his green marine uniform and caring a big green duffel bag. All my friends were there when Mick and Poke got out of the yellow cab … we lined up and saluted him and Poke. My friends stayed outside and my family went upstairs with Ma, Dad, Luther and Colleen all greeting him. Mick pulled me aside and said “Butch I have some things for you that I would like you to have” he opened his green duffel bag and gave me a folding green cot that he had slept on along with four poles that held up the mosquito netting. I also received a set of tan canvas leggings that laced up the side that he wore when he fought in the Pacific. A big brass shell that had been fired from the tanks cannon. The prize possession was a web belt they had a pouch with a first aid kit and a leather scabbard with his bayonet that was stamped USMC. I was in heaven! We all gathered around Mick and Poke in our living room. I sat on the floor next to Mickey’s shiny shoes. Mick talked and we all listened well into the night. Mick told one funny story about the battle of Iwo Jima. The Japs had knocked off the tread of Micks tank so he and his driver crawled out. Then the Japs fired mortars and Micks driver John, shouted … “Mick I’m hit” Uncle Mick crawled over to John and said “where are you hit?” “In the butt “said John. Mick looked down and saw a smoking piece of hot metal about the size of a nickel laying on John’s butt … Mick pulled out his knife and flicked it off … the same knife he just gave me! We all laughed at his stories. He really didn’t talk about the bad stuff. Dad said he might talk about that later when he was ready.

That night I slept on the folding cot with all my uncles gifts laying around me. I even set up the mosquito net although I’ve never been bothered by mosquitoes in my room. I was glad he was home safe. I was glad Japan had finally surrendered and there would be no more death and killing. Mickey was glad too and was ready to move on with his life. He had already enrolled at Loyola of Chicago and would start classes soon. My uncle Billy Arn was discharged from the army, but we didn’t get to see him. He went back to live with his mom, my Grandma Arn in Portage. Cousin Bob Heberlein was to get back to Portage too and went to work at Charlie Heberleins Standard Oil service station. We hoped to visit Portage, but dad’s old Pontiac wasn’t running very well. I guess we could wait till spring. For Christmas this year I got a toy plastic injection molding machine that made plastic soldiers from metal molds. Dad bought me bags of little pieces of plastic and different colors and I set about making my own army. One mold made a soldier marching with a bayonet, another made a soldier crouching with a rifle. It was a great toy. I still didn’t get a Lionel train and my Tru-matic machine gun from last Christmas had somehow disappeared. I suspected Colleen hid it someplace. I got a new pair of galoshes that I hated. They were too big, Ma said that I would “grow into them”. There was something wrong with the buckles … they would pop open when I was running and often caused me to trip. My old galoshes had a zipper on the front and kept the snow out.

            Eddie got some new LaCrosse weather hamstring boots for Christmas that had a little pouch on the side we could put a folding knife. I wanted some just like Eddie’s. I told my parents about them and Eddie came over to show them his boots. He even had a small bottle of Neats foot oil that you had to rub on the boots to keep them waterproof. I think my parents were just about convinced that I really needed those leather boots. One Saturday I lined up an army of plastic soldiers all over the dining room table. On each bayonet I had placed a small sign that said … I HATE BOOTS. Then I put some clean empty glass milk bottles in my parents bed with a big note inside that said I HATE BOOTS. The bottles are pretty cold and my dad noticed them as soon as he went to bed … guess what? It worked! I had to promise that I would not carry a knife or matches in the LaCrosse boots side pocket. I did carry a nail, however. I loved those boots. Eddie and I would march in step to school except when there were large piles of snow next to the sidewalk. Then we would leap from snow pile to snow pile making believe we were mountain climbers crossing the wilderness. By the end of winter just about all the boys had LaCrosse boots except the orphans … sure glad Ma didn’t volunteer me to be an orphan.

            One snowy day Eddie and I walked home from school. We were deep in a conversation as we walked across Murray Avenue side-by-side in step. It was snowing a little and neither of us noticed the quiet street car coming down the hill toward us. We both walked right into the side of it. I bumped my head as we both fell on our butts. The motorman stopped the street car and ran to see if we were O.K. another motor man came running out from the terminal. We got the snow brushed off and one of the motor men walked us both home. Thank goodness Ma wasn’t home because the bump on my head grew bigger as I looked at it in our bathroom mirror. I didn’t want to tell mama I had walked into a moving street car so I thought I would tell her I was cold and wanted to wear my hat and coat. So I went into the dining room and turn down the thermostat and pretty soon it was cold enough to wear a hat. When Ma got home she noticed how cold it was and turned up the heat. When I didn’t take my hat off for supper, she took it off of for me and let out a scream. I had to tell her the truth … I had supper in my room. Hopefully the swelling would go down quickly. The next day the snow was still falling and ma kept me home from school. I liked snow and the radio forecast said that the snow would continue all day and night.

            I looked out of our front window several times and the snow kept falling. Dad got home early from work and so did Colleen. The next day was Friday and the snow had whipped into a blizzard. I could hardly see the huge dark elm trees near our house. Myron and Eddie’s house says across the street had snow blown up the front of the houses and cars on Cramer Street had snow up to their roofs … a bus going up Cramer Street from North Avenue was stuck, NO SCHOOL today even if you had new boots! On Saturday we decided to try to go outside … we couldn’t … the snow block the doors. My dad got a long handled shovel from the basement that he used to get ashes out of the coal fired furnace and try to dig a path to the sidewalk and road. He got a narrow path dug, but Cramer Street was impossible as was North Avenue. My whole family, my whole city was buried in snow. My bruised head was soon forgotten, replaced by the GREAT MILWAUKEE BLIZZARD.