This place had an old doll house. The family before us had girls. And there father built a play house. Its rather nice. I see it as a pigeon coope..But my dad has other ideas.And Mom, She found that the catholic church was only two long blocks away. And she would walk to church when dad did not want to go. And she did that rain,snow,sleet,cold. She would walk to church with David sometimes I would go also.
There is a large tree that Has lost its life. So I'm thinking of building a tree house. That would be so kool.
I do not know many people yet but That will change.There is a large family room where I can set up my drums and the record player by the large picture window. And there is still room for dads two chest freezers and kitchen table.
The first days are difficult. They have classes in different rooms. So I have to go from one room to the other when the bell rings. I have science as my home room with Mrs. Saxton. Ted is one of the greasers in the class. He gets away with a lot of things. The girls like him.
I just want to fit in, but its hard. I keep getting into trouble. Eather talking or just by getting into trouble.
My hair is a bit long. I'm being called a beatle because of this new rock band from england. So I try to find ways to comb it so it does not look like its too long. I like wearing a turtle neck and a dress coat over it. I have a surfers cross on a chain that I wear with it.
Randy Johnson And Laurie Jones says hello to me when my hair is long. They are two of the koolest girls in class.But when I get it cut they do not say much to me.
I go to the Friday dances but I get no action. There is a group of guys that get together and dance and they dance unlike anyone else. They seem to have there own style. I danced with them one time. and after that I was called all kinds of names. I did not understand what Gay or fag was until that happened. So I would go to the dances and just watch.
One Friday I was standing watching as I stood there was this girl standing near. And we started talking. Then I asked her to dance. And it seemed that the whole world just unfolded to me. We started going to the dances together and I started walking her to her bus each day.
But there was still another problem. There is a group of guys on the bus that spit at me as well as make fun of us. But I will walk home after I walk Kathy to her bus. I will do my chores because I have pigeons and a dog and cat to care for. Then I will get on my bike and ride to Kathy's house.
But that is not he end of this. Time and time again. This one boy that would yell insults and spit at me from the bus. Lived a few doors away from Kathy. He would be out side calling me names and Kathy. After awhile it get real old. Kathy has had some good luck in keeping me away from geting out of hand. She would come over to my home at times and we would dance to records and she would watch me play my drums.
I had a real nice birthday party of friends. And the only thing I can remember is Kathy.Kathy was my first real girl friend, that special first Girl. If it was not the dances it was the football games.
Well one day I was over at Kathy's when I kept hearing this voice calling me and my family names. I knew that this was the day. Another thing that I had to do alone. And so I got up and walked out the door. Kathy kept yelling to me to come back.
I walked across the street and there was three guys standing. I do not remember there names except one. BoB, He was the one that just kept going on and on. He was the one that I needed to know, "What is his problem". So I walked up to the three. Two of them stood back as BoB walked up. He took a swing and missed me. I just grabed him and brought him to the ground and punched him. Then I held him down with my knees. He begged for me to hit him in the other eye. I told him that it looked funny enough as it was. I told him to just leave me alone. I let him up and I just walked away. He went back to his house.And I went back to Kathy's. Told her good night and got on my bike and I went home.
Well then things really got bad. It seems that Bob has a older brother named Ray. And he was in Roger High school. And they had a small gang. Now I was there point of pleasure. They were going to make my life very bad. I seem to be more or less watching over my shoulder more and more.
Football season is the big thing. And I like going to the games. And I get chased from them because of the Roger high guys out to get me. I knew that I had to do something. Bob at this time is not riding the bus. But following me home as I walk.
So I take this chance. As he passed my drive way with his friends. I ask him if he wants to come inside. He looked at me like "WoW! What is this guy up too?" My mother stood at the door and David was playing in the side yard.
So Bob walked over the property line and we walked together into the house. I introdused Bob to my mother and he said hello to her. We went to the family room and I put on some records. And together we interreacted to the music. I played the drums. And he tryed to play a bit. We went outside where I showed him my birds and where I had started making my tree house. That day we became the best of friends.
Two weeks later Bob and I went to the football game where I saw Kathy in the arms of another guy. It hurt me real bad. And I said some real dumb things and I did some dumb things. But thats just part of growing up. Bob became a major part of my life after that. We were buddies.
We would get into trouble together and we would go out at night and play pool,every night.We would go to the white Hut and set and have fun. We would go to hickory Farms and buy chees and things. We would get chocolete coverd ants and give them to our friends. And we would smoke cigars at the pool hall. 5 cent cigars were not that great. But I was inhailing them. Since I had been smoking for a long time. We started hanging with Ray, Bobs older brother at times. and Chuck and a few more.We would go out drinking beer.Bob noticed that every time dinner was set there was an extra plate always set at the table. If he did not stay. There were two settings. And when he had problems at home. He stayed in our home.He started calling my mother Ma also!.She is a great mother. And that was kool. I even ran away once and I stayed at Bobs house. But that was foolishness on my part.I had this thing for a different girl. Terri Kottenbocker, I sent to her home a dozen sweet heart roses. And never let anyone know that I did that.
My Mother started getting more sickly at this time. She had a few strokes. And they had her going to a heart specialist. She would go to Toledo Hospital.I had quit school and I would practice the drums all the time when mother was in the hosipital. And take care of David so dad could work. And life was getting hard on Dad. He would come home drunk. But Bobs dad and my dad would go to Cobo Arena to watch wrestling and Bob and I would go. Sometimes Stanly Bob's younger brother. But with my mothers failing health. We knew that we would have to sell the house and go back to a apartment. And that did happen. One day my dad pulled up from work in a moving truck. Ray Bobs brother said that he would help my dad move. That was a sad day for me. But we had to do this. We moved back to Toledo on the east side.
