By Fred J. Klein III
© March, 2002
Relax.
Close your eyes.
Travel back in your mind...
Before DVD's and PC's.
Before Casinos.
Before Interstates.
Back ...
Before Camile ...
I'm talking about the days when security meant snuggling
In the folds of a warm blanket on a chilly morning.
When everyone felt safe.
When houses were rarely locked.
When church doors were left wide open
To everyone -
All hours of the day and night.
I'm talking about those days Mom said ...
"You'll look back upon these as the happiest times of your life...".
She was right - again!
Those where the times
When we were innocent, trusting, children -
When forgiving and forgetting came as
Easily as the sun rising and setting.
I'm talking of the days when we played hide-and-go-seek long after dusk.
Sweat collecting in dust-beads around little sunburned necks.
Sitting on the porch - waiting for the mailman.
Hot bread from Klein's Bakery on a Sunday morning after Mass
Sacred Heart Academy School -
First Friday Holy Communion ...
Marching over to Nativity Church across the school yard
After Mass - chocolate milk and donuts in the cafeteria
Lunch tickets - lost and found.
Collecting Blue Horse notebook paper coupons.
Pink erasers.
Chalking out hopscotch on a sidewalk with a bleached oyster shell.
Playing marbles in the fresh cool Spring dirt.
Hula Hoops and Sunflower Seeds,
Remember the little green candy shop on beach boulevard, at the foot of Carter Avenue
Just before the White House Hotel...
Remember, the neighborhood candy store...
Candy cigarettes in tissue wrappers,
Minature wax coke bottles filled with with colored sugar water;
Jawbreakers, Red Hots,
Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum
Gingerbread Stage Planks - dotted with pink and white icing.
Nickel boxes of Crackerjack plastered in parrafin.
Dime boxes of taffy with real prizes inside,
Penny wax lips and moustaches.
Five cent packs of baseball cards
with that awful pink slab of bubble gum
And Remember the restaurants with table side juke boxes ,
That played an endless of 45 Records. Stream
Patti Page, Perry Como, Les Paul & Mary Ford...
Sipping a Barq's rootbeer float with a friend.
Soft drink machines that dispensed glass bottles
Telephone party lines,
Yards lined with clothes lines -
Sheets and workclothes rustling in the breeze.
Eating too many of mom's homemade corndogs after
Swimming for hours until your fingers got "old ladies' wrinkles."
That sudden Summer shower..
Sliding on the wet grass.
Redbugs!
The smell of the waves rolling in from the Gulf.
Crabbing on the Whitehouse Pier.
Riding on the Pan American Clipper
The taste of the salty surf clinging to your lips ....
Watching Saturday Morning TV -
Captain Midnight - Ovaltine and Secret Decoder Messages,
Lassie, Sky King, Andy Divine and Froggie,
Kukla Fran and Ollie.
Howdy Doody - with Buffalo Bob and Clarabell.
Mr. Wizard!
Getting up early on a warm Saturday morning to
Be near the head of the line outside the Biloxi Skating Rink.
Saying a quick "Hail Mary ..." in hopes they'd have
a pair of skates your size --
And "getting used" to the ones you were handed.
Remember the red haired lady playing the Hammond Organ while
Skating in circles for hours - trying to stay upright.
Remember the Radio talent show at noontime.
Blue Majure from WLOX - wearing headphones.
Remember Mr. George emceeing the affair.
The endless stream of pop songs...
"...How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
... The Wheel of Fortune...
... The Little White Cloud that Cried..."
The tap dancer (?)
The applause - the boos.
The excited winners -
the heartbroken losers.
That agonizing long walk home on blistered feet.
Remember the Saturday Morning Kids Shows at the Saenger
Back to back Little Rascals
and The Three Stooges.
Remember the ushers with flashlights --
Escorting the"trouble makers" outside.
Remember spending the whole afternoon at the Buck Theatre -
A nickel bag of salty yellow popcorn,
Huge dime Hershey bars that turned to goo before finishing them.
Remember the old black and white Western films
Rustlers, Ranchers - stampedes, wagon trains.
Good guys in white hats.
Bad guys dressed in black.
Gene Autrey, Smiley Burnette, Gabby Hayes
Remember those classic monster movies?
... Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi,
Lon Channey Jr., King Kong, Mighty Joe Young.
And, of course, TARZAN, Jane, and Boy.
Go back further...
Remember listening to radio on a Sunday evening...
The Shadow, Johnny Dollar,
Inner Sanctum -- the squeaking door,
Jack Benny and Rochester.
Eve Arden as Our Miss Brooks.
George Burns and Gracie Allen.
Remember the feeling,
The utter fascination,
That first time you saw a lightening bug?