I had plenty of other kids to play with growing up in Malden. There was
Mike Tedesco living in a house on one side of ours and the Corielli twins,
Ronne and Richie, lived on the other side. I remember going over to Mike’s
place to play with his Lionel Trains. His Dad had a shoe repair shop further
up Beach Street in Linden Square. We shared our driveway with the Tedescos.
Ronnie and Richie had good imaginations and I remember playing “cowboys
and indians” with them. I also recall the day their pet pigeon died and they held
a funeral “Mass” for it under their back porch. Their mother quickly put an end
to that sacrilegious act! They had an older brother named Vincent and like me
they had a grandparent living with them, their grandfather who was called Dodo.
(This was pronounced Duhdo)
Another playmate was my cousin Winifred who lived on the first floor of our
house, although I don’t have many memories of us playing. After all, Winnie was
a girl! But I do recall her being in the talent show we put on once in the back yard.
(We must have seen a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movie on tv, or maybe
a Little Rascals short.) She sang “The Wayward Wind” while I provided the echoing
chorus from around the corner in the driveway!
I have a reminder of those days although it’s pretty much faded now. Once while
playing ‘cowboys and indians” with the Corielli twins, they got a little carried away.
One of them tossed a tomato stake “spear” at me that hit me right on the bridge of
the nose. I had a small scar from it and while it doesn’t show now, it used to be
noticeable when I got a bad sunburn in my younger days.
(308 words)
Written for the Family History Writing Challenge
1 comment:
Ah, cowboys and Indians. We played it all the time. Remember those slow agonizing death swoons? Those worked for WW1 ("bring out the gas masks!") and WW2, also.
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