Childhood Memories, Are They Even Real?

Have you ever noticed that the memories from when you were younger seem to be in black and white?

One memory in particular that I have is of my next door neighbor, Ted Cleaver.  We used to call him “Beaver” because when he was a kid he was attacked by a Beaver.

We used to play “cowboys and indians”, hopscotch and “Give me back my sneakers”.  Just a couple of rabble-rousers, you know.

The attack wall.

Beav had a brother named Wally.  We called him that because when he was a kid, he was attacked by a wall.  We were kind of afraid of Beav’s dad.  They called him Sir.  Not because he commanded respect, but because he always seemed to be wearing a tie, even in his swimming trunks.

One night Wally was getting ready to go on a date with Mary Pitcher, the cutest dang girl in a square mile.  Wally got all dressed up in a suit!  Boy, did he look silly!  I remember Beav made a comment about Wally’s clothes.  Something like “Hey you’re wearing clothes”.  Wally didn’t like that one bit.  He got all quiet like.  Then all of a sudden, he kicked Beav square in the chest.  He grabbed Beav by the hair and dragged him outside.  Wally then tied Beav to the back of Sir’s car with a rope and dragged him around the block a couple of times.  That was the last time we saw that rope.

Some of the later memories feel like they have a little more color.  When I was a kid, I was adopted by a nice couple who had tragically lost their daughter.  There names were Mam and George.

Their house was really neat.  It had a dumb waiter that I could fit in, a secret passage behind the Grandfather clock, and a real live Grandfather in the attic!

The neighbor kid’s name was “Skippy”.  He would come over and we would play for hours.  I remember one time he made a comment about how I was being raised by people that were not my parents.  I got all quiet like.  Then, all of a sudden I kicked Skippy square in the chest.  I grabbed him by his hair and dragged him outside.  Then, I tied him to the back of Sir’s car and dragged him around the block a couple of times.

Oh, we called him “Skippy” because when he was a kid he was attacked by bees.

Somethings never change.