Johnny:
Johnny was my best friend and we did everything together. We met in first grade at Fred Olds Elementary and became close friends even though we lived miles apart and rarely saw each other outside of school. Then, we moved right into the same neighborhood. This was ground-zero for childhood madness! Johnny was playful and daring and always looking to do fun things. He had an older sister, Cathy, and his dad, Michael and mother, Phyllis, were like second parents to me. Phyllis had blue and green parakeets and Michael was a serious HAM radio guy. The trunk of his white Chevy sedan had these really tall antennas swaying back and forth as he drove along. We lived just houses away from each other and would see each other every day.
Johnny died April 20, 2018. At his service, I told the story of The Rose Garden as an attempt to let people know how much Johnny meant to me, the zaniness of how we grew up together.
Jimmy and Albert:
Lived across the street from me. Their grandmother was on the right, and the Witch was on the left. Jimmy was the younger of the two brothers and Albert was older. Jimmy had blonde, was thin and had a really high voice. Albert was a little husky and had bright red hair both were glasses. Their father, Joe, was very orderly, had an easy laugh but very stern and was quick to discipline his two boys. Their house and grandmother’s house always looked good–yards trimmed, houses painted, and everything “just so.” At 5 p.m. every day, their mom would come out to their covered porch and bang on a metal triangle that you could hear all over the neighborhood. Dinnertime!
Mrs Wade, the Witch:
Lived to the left of the Wiggs (street view) in small, probably about 800 square-foot, weathered old house that had a front porch with windows on either side of the door. She had not electricity or running water and her entire small yard was covered with kudzu and vines so that her house could not be seen easily. There was no grass, just dead leaves and vines. At night, she seemed to have a few candles burning for light, and she would go across the street to Jennifer and Stacy’s house and get water from their spigot. We stayed out of her yard, and when a football or something went into her yard, we ran and got it and ran out. I never got a real look at her. Ever. She was still there when we moved, and I wonder about her and her actual story.
Jennifer and Stacy
Jennifer was the older sister and they lived next door. Our house had a large front porch where they would play Barbies with my sisters. Their house was across the street from Mrs. Wade and their neighbor was Mrs. Blackwood. Jennifer and Stacy did a lot with my sisters. Here they are together with their mother at the Capital in downtown Raleigh.
David
This was the first kid I ever punched. It was a clear, fall afternoon and we were riding our bikes and we stopped to look up at a jet roaring across the blue sky. I said it was some sort of jet, and he disagreed and I just punched him in the stomach. To this day, I have no idea why I did that, and he punched me back and we just started laughing and that was that. He lived between Mrs. Wade, and Frank and Cindy.
A Father Looks Past Sixty 