This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 26

At Lincoln Jr. High School, they started with language class in 7^th grade. I took Spanish as a language. When we moved and I attended Clinton Jr. High School, they didn’t start language class until 8^th grade. What were they to do about this as they used the same books that I already finished in 7^th grade? I ended up being put in a 9^th grade class. In that class was my later to become sister-in-law. 

I took Spanish class in 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade. Taking Spanish in Michigan in those days was interesting because the only people you could speak Spanish with were the few teachers in the school and some waiters at a Spanish restaurant (El Nibble Nook) that we went to on a field trip. 

One of my Spanish teachers in high school was this very cute short woman. She drove a Volkswagen hatchback that we referred to as a pregnant roller skate. I don’t remember how it happened, but we ended up going to a rally at Wayne State University. The speaker was Ralph Nader. I am not sure if this about the environment and cars or was an antiwar rally. There was another male friend that also went. Unlike the stories that you hear about students and teachers today, the only thing that happened was in my imagination. 

At Lincoln Jr. High School, they didn’t have Shop class until 8^th grade. I left after 7^th grade and at Clinton Jr. High School; they started Shop class in 7^th grade. I did not want to take a class with 7^th graders. I not sure I remember why. I never did take Shop class, maybe I should have taken Home-Ec. 

When it came to naming my second son, it was a limited choice as there were not many people to name after that had not been used by other family members. He ended up being named after one of my aunts and my mother’s father.

I have only one wish that if I am ever blessed to have grandchildren, that they are not named after me.

I remember the mimeograph paper smell. I couldn’t wait for the teacher to pass out the freshly printed paper. This was the original crack. Don't try to tell me you didn't sniff it. 

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 25

When I was 12 and 13, I went to a Jewish Community Center Day Camp Safari. We would go to different places everyday by bus. Some places like the zoo and Boblo island, anywhere that we could go and return in one day. At the end of the day, if we had time and we behaved we would get to go to Dairy Queen. They would give us about 50 cents to a dollar to spend on anything we wanted. Some of us started buying the largest ice cream for that money, maybe a quart. They soon changed the rule to: you could only buy what you could eat as I guess some didn’t finish what they bought. I’m betting I finished mine. 

At Boblo Island Amusement Park with Camp Safari campers, we had a great time. My favorite was the bumper cars. My last ride that day was to go on a ride; I think was called the Himalaya? It was a ride that started out slow, getting faster as it was going around in circles clockwise with hills and valleys while playing loud music. Half way through the ride they would ask if you wanted to go backwards, of course you had no choice. Well you got it, motion sickness. Not the best when you have to take a boat ride home. The only positive thing was the attention from a number of the girls on the ride home. 

At Paul L. Best elementary school, I started to play the drums. I even marched in the Memorial Day Parade in Ferndale. I even remember taking a class in music theory at Ferndale High School. Ferndale High School had a great marching band. After seventh grade at Lincoln Jr. High School, we moved to the other side of Oak Park. I attended Clinton Jr. High School. The band teacher and I did not hit it off. This is as close as I ever came to telling a teacher what I thought he should do. That was the end of my playing career. 

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 24

I was out shopping and the sales person had an English sounding accent. I said to him that I hear that you are not from around here, probably from Chicago. He says yes, south side. I told him that he is probably from where my daughter in law was from. Then I thought again and said Australia because I was not sure. He said no, real far from there. I asked him where he was from, and he said Manchester, England. I told him that is where my daughter in law is from. 

On Sunday July 23, 1967, my parents gathered up all three children into the car for a ride to Belle Isle in Detroit for a day of fun. It was closed that day as we would later find out to put prisoners from the rioting. I never have been back there. 

Behind our house on Greenbriar in Oak Park was an easement between the homes and West Side Drive In. This was not far from the Detroit Artillery Armory used by the Michigan National Guard. During the riots of 1967, they would patrol behind our house. I guess we felt safer. 

I hate live TV shows that we watch on the west coast that have been previously recorded like Saturday Night Live. Even more I hate shows recorded live in California that we can only watch as previously recorded. Imagine if they tried that with the Super Bowl. 

When I go to pay for my car wash at this one place, they have been charging me less than the stated charge and it is not on a day that there is a discount. Well I finally looked at the receipt; senior discount. I didn’t even know to ask for one. 

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 23

In 1972 my choice was to get a car and go to Wayne State University or go Michigan State University, no car. The car I wanted was a small Toyota. A girl in my high school class got one. I don’t know where she went to college. So there we were; my mother and I going to look at a Toyota just outside of Detroit in 1972. 

I did not get that Toyota in 1972. It wasn’t until 1981 when I finished all my schooling and we were living in California. I finally got my Toyota, a 1981 Toyota Tercel, 5 speed, rack and pinion steering. It was great for driving over Laurel Canyon daily to work. 

A few years after I got my Toyota Tercel, I went back to the same dealer and wanted to get a Toyota Cressida, the top of their line. They sort of laughed me off the lot, not wanting to deal with me. I then went to Nissan and bought their top of the line, a Maxima. I have owned 3 Nissan’s, still have one. Automotive salesmen take note. 

It wasn’t until 2015, that I even looked at a Toyota product. FINALLY after 35 years, I bought one. No disrespect this time. 

Not to say that we did not have much when we were growing up but sometimes the large box that a washing machine or refrigerator came in was as much fun to play with as getting a present. 

When I was 13, I got my first radio that had AM and FM. I even think it had shortwave, though I don’t think that I listened to it. Having FM eventually opened up a new world to me, album oriented rock and alternative rock radio. Stations like WABX, CJOM out of Canada and WRIF baby. Many a night would I fall asleep listening to what we now refer as classic rock. 

Sometime during high school, I went to a bingo to raise money for the Jewish War Veterans group that my parents belonged to. This was a time when it was illegal to hold a bingo, but they let charitable group do this. Well that night, they had a fill the whole card bingo and win a stereo… complete with AM/FM, turntable, speakers. Well, I won it. I left right after winning. That night I couldn’t sleep, kept getting up to look at the stereo unit to see if it was real. 

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 22

I never really talked to my son’s about girls, dating, marriage. My younger son, Seth had been going out with a young lady for some time and I noticed that she had been running in a number of races, 5K, 10K, etc. So I sent a text to him stating that Allison had been running a number of races and that he should catch her before she runs away. I did not expect and did not get one right away. Sometime later, he said do you remember that text that you sent me. I played like I did not and then said yes. His only comment was that was the idea. Well he officially caught her. 

My first roommate in the Fraternity house was not a Fraternity member. He happened to be a saved Christian. He had this car with a large engine. One day as we were driving down some of the small streets in East Lansing he decides to show me how fast his car can go. As I sat glued to the back of my seat, I told him that I understand that he knows where he is going after this life, but I am not in any hurry to find out. 

One movie that I had a hard time watching was ‘Philadelphia’. Another movie, ‘Rent’, I just could not make it through. 

To make things much simpler in my life when it comes to what to celebrate or not, I have decided to follow this rule. IF they are serving food, celebrate it. This works for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, New Years, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Reunions and Everyday Life. 

A medical school classmate of mine retired and grew his beard. He became Santa Claus. Now when I think of Santa Claus, I think of him. I was thinking that when I retire, I would become Harry Hannukah, but I think my older son beat me to it. 

My father was a very progressive thinking man; he foresaw the migration of people out of Detroit into the suburbs. When he bought his first house, he looked to Oak Park; or was it just cheaper there. 

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 21

Before Cup Holders: My mother had a 1960’s Dodge Lancer. I loved that car and dreamed that one day I would get to drive it. All it took was my mother driving with her cigarette in one hand and a coffee cup in another. We were stopped at a light and I think she was drinking the coffee and dropped an ash on her lap and then went to brush it off. Well, she popped the clutch, and we were jolted into the back of a large truck. The front of the car was ruined, it was the end of the dream. 

I like cilantro. My mother said it tasted like soap. Maybe I like it because of all the times my mouth was washed out with, that would have been Dial though. 

One night we decided to go out to see a movie and then dinner. We got to the movie. It was one of those new theatres with a good sound system. Immediately when the movie started I felt like I was part of the movie. It was a war movie. It was almost like I could feel the bullets flying by me, not just from the sound but I swear you could feel the breeze as they passed. I would look over to see if my wife was hit. By the time the move ended, we felt like we had been through the war. We had to walk around for awhile before we could even think of going out to dinner. The movie was Saving Private Ryan. 

It’s hard to believe that this Jewish boy was listening to Jethro Tull’s Agualung and the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971. A few of us even knew all the words to the songs, I can’t say that now. I guess that we needed balance in life in those days. 

In October of 2016, I was on the way to Michigan State for a college fraternity reunion I stopped and had breakfast at McDonalds. After eating I had to make a U-turn, a Michigan left. Upon turning I noticed a food truck, Gourmet Grill Cheese truck. I had seen this truck on facebook posted by someone I went to Hebrew school and attended the same high school with. So I pulled over into a gas station and asked if the person driving had the same last name of the person I knew. He did. We talked awhile; he was on his way to Cedar Pointe to work. I told him to say hello to his father. As I love grilled cheese, I only wish he was set up to work. Maybe next time I visit from California, I will run into him again. 

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 20

One of my summer jobs during college was working in Pharmacy in Detroit. It only lasted only a short time. The owner was a family friend. He continued to work even after being robbed a number of times and he was shot when supposedly someone followed him back to Oak Park. Working at the counter in the Pharmacy, you got to know the local people and their preference of cigarettes and snuff amongst other things. One day I got a call and they told me not to come in, another robbery, one too many. They were going to close down the Pharmacy. It was the end of an era of local individual owned pharmacies. 

One summer while in college, I worked at Sinai Hospital in Detroit purging old x-rays. They did this to get money from the recovered silver. It was a night job from 11p.m. to 6 a.m. I worked with a group of people that all got hired at the same time. Once we got the swing of things and completed what was expected of us each day, we would slip off for a little sleeping time. I would sleep on the x-ray table. The x-ray tech would wake me before everyone showed up for work in the morning. 

Years ago, I was doing some per diem work in Torrance, CA. It was about 50 miles from my home. I worked there during a rainy season. Yes, it did rain in California. At that time I was driving a Volkswagen Jetta. If I left there before 3 p.m., I had a chance to get home quickly. This did not happen often. Leaving after 3 p.m., I would get on the 405 freeway and drive for a short while and then come to an almost dead stop. Sitting there in traffic, in the rain with the wiper blades going back and forth gave me claustrophobia such that one time I had to get off the road. I then got out of the car and just stood in the rain. That night I told my wife that I need to drive the van. 

For years when I made my videos or writings, I have signed them…. A RAMS PRODUCTION. Robert, Arlene, Matthew, Seth. Now that the RAMS football team has moved back to Los Angeles, I can’t wait to get that cease and desist letter. Like they are going to notice. 

We went to see my parents at Riverside National Cemetery for the first time about a month ago. They had put up the headstone. It reminded me of a new subdivision being built and instead of houses it was headstones. Blocks and blocks of them, with no grass. They should have the lawn's put in by the time we visit next.