Jan. 25, 2004 - 17:32 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Never

There is a new "Five" now, at least to me it is. Called Sunday Brunch

Statute of limitations has run out by now I guess except for murders and stuff like that. Not guilty in that respect here, so here goes.

1. - When you were a teenager did you sneak out of the house ?

A. - Up 'til I was sixteen there was no chance. Then we moved and I had a room in the basement. Being a night owl anyhow, I loved to get out when all was silent, shadowy, moony and summery different. Had a buddy who used to spend the night with me and he and I would roam the neighborhood, often going down to City Park to roam and occasionally had to dodge the cops. No vandalism or anything like that, just roaming free.

2. - Have you ever gone skinny dipping ?

A. - You mean you gotta wear something when you swim ? Of course at the YMCA where I learned to swim we were buck. We had a swimming hole on the Platte River near our neighborhood. Hole it was, the rest of the river was inches deep but for our hole. It wasn't in sight of houses or streets and very seldom did anyone venture there. So we denuded ourselves with a sense of daring and had a hee hee daredevil blast there. I was past teenage before any co-ed swimming got into the picture.

3. - Have you ever dyed your hair a crazy color ?

A. - Being a man in my eighties, the best I can say is that Dad had to force me to get a haircut in my teens. Many years later I sported a mustache, beard and hair down to my shoulders while I worked with a bunch of men who were hairy to the max.

4. - Did you ever get so drunk you couldn't remember much of the night ?

A. - In my teens, several times. Eventually in my late fifties I became an alcoholic and later became an alcoholic in recovery. In my teens the opportunity was rare.

5. - Tell us something wild and crazy you did as a teenager you probably should have gotten in trouble for but never got caught.

A. - Riding freight cars on the railroad from Denver south a ways and walking back home. Played hookey a few times before I was caught once. Halloween, sneaking up into neighbors yeards (the crabby ones), soaping windows, taking the gate off and hiding it in a corner of their yard, attaching tic-tacs to windows, ringing doorbells and running, in my late teens I did have my fill of that. I almost eloped with a girl when I was in high school, but trouble ? maybe so, she decided she liked a new car her mother bought her better than being a bride. So much for fame.

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I did enjoy this Brunch and the memories it stirred even though I had to let it churn in my mind all day. So, you know the old thing, Better late than Never . . . . . . . .

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