One

The Beginning

There I was, eight years old, on the hunt once again with my crab net and sling shot for wharf rats that lurk in the darkness of the underground sewer pipes in my neighborhood until one of them decided to leap out of my crab net over my head making me re-think the idea of messing with such a creature. So, I ended the search for the wharf rats and came up out of the sewer for some air and realized that I had traveled across town via the underground sewer system to an area behind a shopping center. This shopping center was bordered with a small stream and wooded area that was instrumental at shielding me from what was going on at that time. Anyway, I decided to take a break and get some air along while catching my breath. While doing so I noticed some activity behind the shopping center. It looked like a liquor store that was part of the shopping center was being robbed by several individuals. The owner of the liquor store, who was an elderly man with white hair was chasing two individuals (alleged suspects) out of the rear entrance of the liquor store shouting “help me I’m being robbed” to anyone that was listening. Unbeknownst to me the elderly man at the liquor store had called the police, and they (the police) were arriving on the scene to hear what was going on. Afterwards, one of the officers on the scene of the alleged robbery, signaled to another officer to head around to the other side of the store to intercept the other alleged robbers. Shortly afterwards, a van drove around from the opposite side of the store’s rear entrance occupied by two more suspected robbers that were stopped by the first officer’s partner. A short time later I noticed that one of the officers on the scene had ordered several suspects out of a van they were traveling in at gun point. Once the four suspects were up against a wall and at gun point, one of them saw me. I guess at that point one of the suspects had made a movement which looked like a flinch to one of the officers. That officer told the suspect at gunpoint that if he made one more aggressive move like that, he (the suspect) would be shot. It was then I realized that I wanted to be like the police one day, one of the good guys that fought evil in the world. So, once everything was under control with the alleged robbery, I decided to head in the direction of home to check in with my parents since they’re always curious to what us kids are up to, considering I have three siblings that pretty much do their own thing.

Along the way home I decided to walk onto an adjacent golf course to see what loose golf balls I can find to sell back to the prospective owners. I’m always looking to make a buck where I can so I can buy matchbox cars from area toy stores and save toward a Schwinn bicycle that I’ve had my eye on for some time. So, the time frame now is in the 1960’s in a neighborhood that is a predominately white area that is being de-segregated a little at a time with what I called blockbusters. I’m almost 10 now noticing that the white and Jewish fa