High School Part 2

Blame it on Bob reminded me of a couple of things that happened during high school that I didn't cover in my previous post so I will add them here. If you haven't read Byrd High School, it's the previous post so go back and read that one first.

My first addition to the last post has to do with cars.

When I returned from St. Gregory's and turned 15, I needed a car. Uncle Woodrow gave me a job working at the family's industrial supply company part time and on Saturday. Going to school knocked out the 8 to 3 p.m. time frame so I only made an hour or so everyday. That was just enough to go to the warehouse and make a run to the bus station with packages that needed to be shipped out overnight. Not much money there.

My brother in law, Ronnie Oswald, assistant produce manager at Brookshire's  and his brother Larry, package boy and stock clerk,  put in a good word for me at Brookshire Food Store so I ended up with a job sacking groceries after school and working all day on Saturdays.

The minimum wage was 90 cents/ hr back then but we made more than that from tips so the money was pretty good. Back then, a $36.00 week was plenty. I saved my money and bought the cheapest car I could get my hands on. It was a Nash Metropolitan, total price, $350.00. I didn't keep it long because it was a "rag" and the right rear wheel fell off, but it provided me with basic transportation and served it's purpose long enough for me to prove to momma that I could handle the responsibility of a car.

One night, not long after I bought the Metropolitan, I received a phone call from a bar that was located next to a hot spot called "The Cub". It had a rotating bar in it and was called the Carosel (sp). As things unfolded during the phone call, I discovered that my sister Linda was on the pay phone in the girls bathroom and she was in a panic. Her friend Penny was drunk as a skunk, couldn't get her girdle up, and was in dire straights. She asked me to come down there and help out as Penny was stuck on the toilet with the girdle wrapped around her ankles, refusing to move. Don't ask me how in the hell they figured out I could do anything about it but the call came in and off I went to get them.

By the time I arrived, the problem had apparently been solved and despite the fact that neither of them wanted to discuss the manner in which it was handled, I always assumed that Penny was without girdle or panties or anything under her dress.  They were gassed and asked me to drive them to North Highlands where some boys lived so they could visit with them. I didn't like the idea of that but being the dutiful little brother, I headed to North Highlands. I still give Penny hell about that night and we both still laugh about it.

Shortly after that, momma apparently felt sorry for me and gave me her maroon and silver 64 Malibu and she bought a brand new 65 Impala. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven even though it was a 6 cylinder 3 speed and didn't even have an air conditioner. I didn't care, it was a hell of a lot better than the Metropolitan. All of that happened during my Junior year and I still wish I had that Metro.

Since I managed not to get into any fights during my junior year and I'd started running on the quarter mile and mile relay team at Byrd, momma decided that I could have a new car for my senior year. The 64 Malibu was traded in on a 66 Chevelle Super Sport. It came with a 396 cubic inch V 8. It was bad fast and I loved it.

It had 325 horsepower and even though that was a lot of horsepower back then, Larry Albritton and Johnny Cobb decided I needed a set of Hedman Headers which boosted the horsepower even more. There wasn't a GTO at school that I couldn't beat or an Olds 442 but even with the headers open and loud as hell, I still couldn't out run the 375 Horse version that a couple of the boys from Fair Park had. Despite that, it was bad fast and I became a hot rodder at Byrd and that was real cool.

Not long after that, during my Senior year, I was suspended for fighting and was back on momma's shit list. I had to be very careful because it was a serious time around the house. Even Leland backed me up on the fight deal because he'd had some troubles with bullies and he was proud that I stood up for myself and kicked some butt. Despite my new direction and focus on keeping out of trouble, scooters fell out of popularity and motorcycles came on the scene. So did Richard Harris. Richard was another military school guy but let's just say that in Richard's case, it didn't TAKE.

Blame it on Bob was the motorcycle version of Larry Albritton and Johnny Cobb. He had been working as a part time helper at a local motorcycle shop owned by the Cassard family and had learned more about motorcycles then than I know now. In any event, that year, Suzuki introduced the X6 Hustler and Bob knew all about them. It was a screaming fast 2 cycle bike with a six speed transmission and Richard bought one.

I found out about it the hard way. I received a call from a really drunk Richard on one horribly cold winter night. Richard was drunk as a skunk. He told me about the bike and even though it was sometime close to midnight, he announced that he was going to come over. I begged him not to as I was afraid he would wake up my momma. (His was a nurse and worked the night shift so she could get some sleep while Richard was in school). None of the begging and pleading worked so I told him to sneak up to the front bedroom window on the right side of the house. That was normally the girls bedroom but Elaine was already married, Linda was at Tech and Leland was in the Marine Corp training for Vietnam, so I figured that was the safest thing to do.

Despite the fact that it had snowed earlier and the streets were covered with ice, I heard the roar of a two cycle motorcycle and I knew it was Richard. I figured I would get in some trouble over this but when I saw him come across the front yard toward the bedroom window, I knew I was sunk. He was BUCK NAKED. I'm talking about no clothes on at all. It was freezing cold and Richard was nekid, drunk, loud and in one hell of a condition.

Even though he only lived 8 blocks away, I was surprised that he hadn't fallen prey to exposure or had the dropped the bike because of all the ice and snow. Alcohol probably saved him but the way I saw it, alcohol and a naked man on a motorcycle at the bedroom window at MY mother's house was probably going to be the end of me.

Somehow or another I managed to make it through all that. On second thought, let's say that DESPITE all those things, my boarding school training served me well and I maneuvered around problems like that and actually did graduate from High School, even though I had to take summer school English, to do it.

Melissa rode with me to summer school and we had a ball after class when I would take her for a ride in the SS 396. We would go get a cold beer and ride south of town before I took her home. If Eddie ever knew, I'm sure he would have killed me. In any event, Eddie and I became close and after Vietnam, I spent hours and hours talking about the war in the Pacific with him and we compared notes a million times. That's a story that I'll outline after I finish college, flight school and Vietnam because it covers his experiences during the invasion of Saipan and Tinian.

Thanks to Blame it on Bob for reminding me to add this little tid bit of craziness. Ashley, your daddy and Uncle Larry were sure fun to run around with during those days. Your mother would have killed me if she knew all the stuff we were doing.