As it turned out,I was developing a bit of a knack for getting in trouble at places other that the babysitters.One of the places I liked to play was right on the edge of our allowed range.Right at the curb in front of our house.I wasn't allowed to cross the street,but I guess I was already pushing boundaries and wondering what was beyond,maybe even thinking of extending myself beyond what was allowed.
Sitting at the curb was a great place to view all the comings and goings of the neighborhood,and there was still a lot going on.I would never sit with my feet out on the street.I just sat cross legged on the boulevard and watched.Dogs would run up and down the street,getting into the garbage,knocking over the cans or ripping into the bags.Once a week the garbage truck would come down the road and pick up our trash,then throw the can back into the driveway,not even giving the least thought to putting it neatly in place.By this time there was a street sweeper coming down the street on a regular basis too,along with a big tank truck that would spray clean the road surface.There was even an ice cream truck that came by once in a while,and,of course a food truck that came by for the construction workers.I really wanted to get lunch from one of those trucks,as the thought of eating from the back of a truck was quite novel.Telephone trucks were busy in the neighborhood too,and I loved to watch the men climbing the poles.Occasionally the fire trucks would come screaming up the street.
There was the routine coming and going of the neighbors too.Nothing very interesting there,but I was getting to know the neighbors and was able to spot most of their cars.One day a moving van came up our street,and stopped at the house directly across from ours.This was a house that was turned end wise to the street,with the door in the wide side of the building.Some men got out.opened up the rear of the van and started unloading furniture onto the front lawn,then into the house.They were there for the better part of the day,but I didn't see any other people around.Eventually they locked up the house and left.
It was a few days before I noticed anyone around the house.There had been people living in the house,which was already fully built when we moved in,but I had no idea who they were.Over lunch I heard my father saying to my mother that it looked like we were getting new neighbors.
It seemed of no great significance that we were getting new neighbors.Really,they were not neighbors,because as far as I was concerned,they might just as well have lived in China.Across the road was not very far away.I could see there and even beyond,but I couldn't even think of ever going there.So that made them not neighbors,but people who lived very far away.
The first I ever saw of our new neighbors was their dog,chained up in the driveway.It was a tall,big,mean looking dog with a cropped tail.Dogs were something I was still trying to figure out,but I'd generally adopted my mothers attitude toward them.That could best be called wariness.Dogs ran about all over the place,and I was glad that this particular dog was chained,because,in truth,I was afraid of it.It was what we usually called a police dog,so I began to wonder if our new neighbor was a cop.
Then one day,not to long after that I was by the curb,watching the neighborhood,pitching small pebbles from the drive way out into the road,which was something I did from time to time.At some point,a little girl approached the opposite curb.I guess she was doing about the same thing I was -checking out the lay of the land,trying to figure out what was new.Checking me out,tossing my stones out into the street.It must have looked like a fun sort of a game to her,because before long she was pitching stones too.If she was saying anything by way of introduction I couldn't hear it,as we were both in our own front yard,and there was quite a distance between us.And that was a good thing,because we were soon involved in a full blown rock fight.Really though,we had no hope of inflicting any damage on one another.Our rocks just landed in the road,which was only a problem for cars,and,at that not much of a problem.Half way across the road was about as far as I could throw a rock,and she couldn't even manage that,so we were like a couple of armies shooting at each other from about fifty miles away.At some level,I certainly knew I should not have been heaving rocks.And,when both of our mothers arrived at about the same time,we ended up busted.I spent the rest of the day inside.And that is how I met Karen.
Sitting at the curb was a great place to view all the comings and goings of the neighborhood,and there was still a lot going on.I would never sit with my feet out on the street.I just sat cross legged on the boulevard and watched.Dogs would run up and down the street,getting into the garbage,knocking over the cans or ripping into the bags.Once a week the garbage truck would come down the road and pick up our trash,then throw the can back into the driveway,not even giving the least thought to putting it neatly in place.By this time there was a street sweeper coming down the street on a regular basis too,along with a big tank truck that would spray clean the road surface.There was even an ice cream truck that came by once in a while,and,of course a food truck that came by for the construction workers.I really wanted to get lunch from one of those trucks,as the thought of eating from the back of a truck was quite novel.Telephone trucks were busy in the neighborhood too,and I loved to watch the men climbing the poles.Occasionally the fire trucks would come screaming up the street.
There was the routine coming and going of the neighbors too.Nothing very interesting there,but I was getting to know the neighbors and was able to spot most of their cars.One day a moving van came up our street,and stopped at the house directly across from ours.This was a house that was turned end wise to the street,with the door in the wide side of the building.Some men got out.opened up the rear of the van and started unloading furniture onto the front lawn,then into the house.They were there for the better part of the day,but I didn't see any other people around.Eventually they locked up the house and left.
It was a few days before I noticed anyone around the house.There had been people living in the house,which was already fully built when we moved in,but I had no idea who they were.Over lunch I heard my father saying to my mother that it looked like we were getting new neighbors.
It seemed of no great significance that we were getting new neighbors.Really,they were not neighbors,because as far as I was concerned,they might just as well have lived in China.Across the road was not very far away.I could see there and even beyond,but I couldn't even think of ever going there.So that made them not neighbors,but people who lived very far away.
The first I ever saw of our new neighbors was their dog,chained up in the driveway.It was a tall,big,mean looking dog with a cropped tail.Dogs were something I was still trying to figure out,but I'd generally adopted my mothers attitude toward them.That could best be called wariness.Dogs ran about all over the place,and I was glad that this particular dog was chained,because,in truth,I was afraid of it.It was what we usually called a police dog,so I began to wonder if our new neighbor was a cop.
Then one day,not to long after that I was by the curb,watching the neighborhood,pitching small pebbles from the drive way out into the road,which was something I did from time to time.At some point,a little girl approached the opposite curb.I guess she was doing about the same thing I was -checking out the lay of the land,trying to figure out what was new.Checking me out,tossing my stones out into the street.It must have looked like a fun sort of a game to her,because before long she was pitching stones too.If she was saying anything by way of introduction I couldn't hear it,as we were both in our own front yard,and there was quite a distance between us.And that was a good thing,because we were soon involved in a full blown rock fight.Really though,we had no hope of inflicting any damage on one another.Our rocks just landed in the road,which was only a problem for cars,and,at that not much of a problem.Half way across the road was about as far as I could throw a rock,and she couldn't even manage that,so we were like a couple of armies shooting at each other from about fifty miles away.At some level,I certainly knew I should not have been heaving rocks.And,when both of our mothers arrived at about the same time,we ended up busted.I spent the rest of the day inside.And that is how I met Karen.
No comments:
Post a Comment