Something to Sneeze at
Guessing , I would say I began to develop a
neighbourhood conscience and a tentative world view when I was about 7 years old
. We had a TV set , and a radio and I was aware of news not only from our area
of the worlds but also from the world . As is the case with all of us things
were happening around me that would in latter years shape me , but I was unaware
of them as were most of the people living at that time as well .
1954 was
the year of that Segregation was declared unconstitutional in the Brown Vs Board
of education decision at the Supreme Court . There was an un going witch Hunt
for Communists , Homes had just topped an average of $10,000 ...Gas was $.29
cents a gallon .
Across the world the French were waging ware in an
obscure place called Viet Nam ... On the waterfront was the years Big Academy
winner , but as a Family we went to the Drive in and saw the Long Long Trailor
with Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball.
On TV I was watching Howdy Doody and a
local show called Mr Moon . For the most part TV was only used if it was really
rainy outside , ( we were required to play in the rain unless it reached full
monsoon status .). Bedtime was 9 o'clock ..more or less .
MY first
friend in our block was rex Riley , rex and His mother had moved to Oregon from
Missouri. Rex Lived with His mother who in turn lived with Her Sister and Her
Sisters Husband and their son . Rex 's house was a small one on the corner of
miles and 33rd street ...He and His mother shared a room ..Looking back it seems
somewhat crowed and cramped ...but at the time I thought nothing of it , nor did
it ever occur to me to ask Rex where his father was ... we remaned Neighbors
through High School , but after grade school I rarely saw Him . I believe the
last time I saw rex was in 1990 when I ran into him in Sisters Oregon. He had
gained some weight , was married ...and older.
During our glory years Rex
and I explored the woods together , rode our bikes for miles in the southwest
hills , slept out under the stars , and in our tree fort , we went swimming
together , picked blackberries , Strawberries, and Beans together . It puzzles
me I never took he time to know Him better . but perhaps I knew him as I
supposed to , a child hood friend , a sojourner on a childhood journey that
began in a very small corner of the world called the neighborhood , and ended as
a foggy morning , evaporates into the brilliant stab of sunlight on a grassy
meadow .
Most of our play was adversarial , cops and robbers , Cowboys
and Indians , Americans and others . We played mumbly peg once and I
accidentally stuck a knife in his leg . I was somewhat angry and bemused when he
insisted that we tell his mother , and subsequently was taken to the doctor for
a tetnus shot . Telling his mother of course meant telling my parents and they
were not as bemused as I was about the incident.
I really don't know
what the deal was about tetanus shots was in those days ..I had heard rumours of
Lock Jaw , but had never seen an visible evidence of it actually ever happening
, likewise I had never seen a chigger , boogyman , or a full fledged communist
either. Life in the Southwest Hills was somewhat isolated . By the time we were
in fifth grade we were allowed almost full range over several miles of roads .
lanes and islands of undeveloped woods and forests , we watch these areas slowly
disappear , ans more and more houses were built . The movement of people into
the Hills became so popular that a free way was needed to transport them , our
Grade school was enlarged , and in the area a new one was built ...
It
was also during this time that my parents noticed I was having some difficulty
breathing , and I was frequently sneezing and coughing especially during the
spring...Soon I was visiting a battery of doctors who were all eagerly waiting to
poke ,prod and prick me ...This I believe was the beginning of my bad altitude
about the Medical profession . After a period that I referred to as the
"Exquisite Time of Torture and Humiliation" ..I was diagnosed with Asthma and Hay
fever . it turned out i was allergic to the planet Earth ..space travel was
still a fantasy then so there was little I could do about it , except take as
series of shots ..Rather than easing into it by taking say one shot every decade
, I was immediately put on a schedule that included two shots in each arm twice
a week . To add indignity to pain , I actually had to walk to the doctors office
often by myself ..a distance of over a mile and a half , past three vicious dogs
, the Butte brothers , and at least one well manicured lawn that begged me to
ignore the do not walk on the grass sign . I would enter the Lobby of the clinic
, announce my presence sit , down and thumb through a field and stream magazine
or a National Geographic ...soon a plucky nurse with rubber gloves up to her arm
pit and scowl on her face like she had just bit into a sour lemon would call my
name..she would lead me gently by dragging both feet through the door ..into
another room where i would be locked inside ..until a bespectacled doctor would
enter make some vague comments about my improvement , and then remove himself as
the sour faced nurse would enter with a tray on which were four needles attached
to syringes ..the needles were easily the size of a small Javelin andthe
syringes about the size of a small firecracker , an incongruity that never
ceased to amaze me . The nurse would then apply alcohol to the skin ...and with
a effort worthy of a veteran Harpooner for a Nova Scotia whaler , plunge the
needle into me ..this procedure was repeated three more times ..and I was left
dazed and wounded in the room for a period of 30 minutes ..this was to see if
the injection was to have any serious side affects , other than the obvious pain
, bruising , numbness and frequent need to urinate in a hurry that i experienced
on a usual basis. Then if the lumps on my arm were less than a good sized
cantaloupe I was allowed to walk myself home , past the ( now four ) visious
dogs the sneers of the Butte Brothers , and the glare of the elderly lady whose
Lawn I had transgressed in. All the while I was walking home I kept thinking
maybe Lock Jaw was a better way to go .
Yet as I said it was during this time
that my world view started to expand , and I can thank National Geographic for
that !
Achoo !!!
