Episode 4: East Side Tough Guys
When I was growing up, we East Side boys were known for our loyalty to one another, and for being known as “tough guys.” Well, at least we thought of ourselves that way!
The East Side was made up of multi-racial and multi-ethnic people. We did not associate with the school kids from the predominantly Jewish North Side, nor the rich kids (at least we thought they were rich) from the South Side. So our “toughness” was actually confined to the East Side—just walking to and from school and not getting beat up by bullies who picked on us for no reason.
My best pal Joe was often slow in the mornings and if he was going to make me late for school I’d walk another block to my friend Mike Davanzo’s house, and he was always on time. Mike really was a tough guy and wouldn’t let anyone pick on me!
One warm summer day when we were teenagers, Joe and I offered to babysit my two nieces, Diane and Linda, so that my sister Martha could run a few afternoon errands. We were motivated to make this "generous" offer because my sister’s house had a television set. Remember, we’re talking about the early fifties and neither one of our homes had one. So as soon as Martha left, we turned on the TV, and left the two little nieces to their own devices, in the kitchen.
All of a sudden, we hear screams from the kitchen! We ran in and the girls told us a mouse ran across the kitchen floor and behind the refrigerator. Diane and Linda were screaming non-stop, so we lifted them up onto the kitchen table, where they would be safe from—as fearless Joe was calling it—the “rat!” We tough guys were arguing about who would shove the broom alongside the refrigerator, and then if the mouse ran out, who would try to pound the poor thing with a shoe. No detail was too small for us courageous fighters. Suddenly the mouse did run out, causing both of us to jump back in retreat, and setting off new screams from the girls. Now the mouse was behind the stove. So we brave saviors of little girls decided to pull the stove away from the wall. But when we did, the mouse was gone.
When Martha returned, she found her girls standing on the kitchen table, the chairs shoved to the side, her stove in the middle of the room, and two very excited babysitters, never so happy to see an adult. We never caught the mouse, and the "tough guys" were never asked to babysit again!
