| General Non-Fiction posted April 8, 2021 | Chapters: |
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My first friend who was not a *townee*.
A chapter in the book Fifty Days of Friendship
My Friend Gene
by Bill Schott
As children, playing in the elementary schoolyard, all of the social evils of society were visited upon the youth. We climbed on monkey bars that would never pass safety standards for even a gorilla. The seesaws were designed to punish skinny kids (express to the moon), fat kids (permanently grounded), and inquisitive kids (goodbye fingers in the fulcrum of the teeter-totter).
There were also unplanned play programs like monkey-in-the-middle with the little kids cap, or king-of-the-hill on the unused mound of fill dirt between the country kids and the 'townees'. This is where I met Gene.
Many kids were bussed to school from the rural area and surrounding farms. Gene's family raised horses, which he allowed visiting peers to ride and help groom. I learned something about the tack (saddles, stirrups, bridles, etc.) and riding.
I experienced my first family drama, outside our own sibling circus, while visiting his house. Gene's mother was in the hospital and his dad was trying to call to see how she was. The phone was on the fritz so his dad had to load the kids in their station wagon to visit her. When we arrived he found she had died, and his three kids and I found out in the hospital parking lot. When we finally returned to their home, Gene's dad ripped the phone off the wall, screaming, crying, and cursing.
Gene proceeded from that day forward as the de facto 'mom'. At ten years old he began caring for his younger sisters, while his father began a decade of grieving. My friend became the most dependable, intelligent, and hardworking person I knew.
I saw him last when he attended my cousin's and my going-away party prior to our leaving for the Marines. He then went to work at the Chevrolet Bus and Truck plant, where I heard he was often warned by the union reps to stop working harder than his peers.
As children, playing in the elementary schoolyard, all of the social evils of society were visited upon the youth. We climbed on monkey bars that would never pass safety standards for even a gorilla. The seesaws were designed to punish skinny kids (express to the moon), fat kids (permanently grounded), and inquisitive kids (goodbye fingers in the fulcrum of the teeter-totter).
There were also unplanned play programs like monkey-in-the-middle with the little kids cap, or king-of-the-hill on the unused mound of fill dirt between the country kids and the 'townees'. This is where I met Gene.
Many kids were bussed to school from the rural area and surrounding farms. Gene's family raised horses, which he allowed visiting peers to ride and help groom. I learned something about the tack (saddles, stirrups, bridles, etc.) and riding.
I experienced my first family drama, outside our own sibling circus, while visiting his house. Gene's mother was in the hospital and his dad was trying to call to see how she was. The phone was on the fritz so his dad had to load the kids in their station wagon to visit her. When we arrived he found she had died, and his three kids and I found out in the hospital parking lot. When we finally returned to their home, Gene's dad ripped the phone off the wall, screaming, crying, and cursing.
Gene proceeded from that day forward as the de facto 'mom'. At ten years old he began caring for his younger sisters, while his father began a decade of grieving. My friend became the most dependable, intelligent, and hardworking person I knew.
I saw him last when he attended my cousin's and my going-away party prior to our leaving for the Marines. He then went to work at the Chevrolet Bus and Truck plant, where I heard he was often warned by the union reps to stop working harder than his peers.
There were also unplanned play programs like monkey-in-the-middle with the little kids cap, or king-of-the-hill on the unused mound of fill dirt between the country kids and the 'townees'. This is where I met Gene.
Many kids were bussed to school from the rural area and surrounding farms. Gene's family raised horses, which he allowed visiting peers to ride and help groom. I learned something about the tack (saddles, stirrups, bridles, etc.) and riding.
I experienced my first family drama, outside our own sibling circus, while visiting his house. Gene's mother was in the hospital and his dad was trying to call to see how she was. The phone was on the fritz so his dad had to load the kids in their station wagon to visit her. When we arrived he found she had died, and his three kids and I found out in the hospital parking lot. When we finally returned to their home, Gene's dad ripped the phone off the wall, screaming, crying, and cursing.
Gene proceeded from that day forward as the de facto 'mom'. At ten years old he began caring for his younger sisters, while his father began a decade of grieving. My friend became the most dependable, intelligent, and hardworking person I knew.
I saw him last when he attended my cousin's and my going-away party prior to our leaving for the Marines. He then went to work at the Chevrolet Bus and Truck plant, where I heard he was often warned by the union reps to stop working harder than his peers.
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