My grade school friend, Keith, whom I haven't seen in years, called me. A strange coincidence prompted him to contact me. He has a large collection of "vinyl" from his school years and pulled them out to share with his twins. He asked his eleven year old child to randomly choose a record from the twelve foot wide stack. The album he grabbed, Jeff Beck, Wired. The song he randomly picked to play, Come Dancing. My friend Keith had been inspired to purchase the record back when he was in school after we heard my brother play the memorable bass line at a high school concourse hallway concert assembly. The band my brother was in, World, played professionally, though the members were still in school. Pardon the expression, they rocked the hall. The chance pick by his child inspired Keith to contact me. We talked about the coincidental reminder, current events and childhood memories.
Keith and I sat next to each other in grade school. We wrote a desk top newsletter for awhile, back in the days of pencils and paper. We would entertain ourselves with fantastic stories and our grade school "spoofs" on the news of the world. We collected Hugh Haney cartoons from the local editorial page and used them in our weekly production. Our childhood collaborations are one of my the best memories of grade school.
We also spent time at each others houses, like friends do. One day I was at his house playing in the backyard, It had been raining. The hillside yard was wet and slippery. I was walking down toward the house on its stepped walkway. The nose of the steps were railroad ties and the wet wood was like glass under my shoes rubber soles.
Keith's family dog, Fluffy (the pink-nosed harlequin Great Dane) came bounding up the steps and playfully greeted me with a playful pounce, knocking me off my feet, driving my tailbone onto the slippery step. It hurt so bad I couldn't breath, call out or stand up. My spinal cord was bruised by the force of my weight and the giant Dane driving down on my spine. Recovering my ability to walk and lift any weight kept me out of school for weeks. Until I reminisced with Keith I had forgotten how badly I was hurt. This Fluffy memory of my childhood was not a fond and fluffy one, but it has bearing... In the end.
I have been writing about events in my life that brought me to walk the world. Strange how everything is connected. A lifetime of spinal injuries has been a major factor. If I trace the reasons to their beginnings, for the record, I should be thankful to Fluffy ( the pink-nosed harlequin Great Dane) for his help.
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1 comment:
Good post Mr. Bendl :-)
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