The Boys And A Stickball Game<\/p>\n
Once again, the boys met in the diner.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the neighbors were watching. It was on a Sunday late in June. We were in our summer school vacation when we played that unforgettable stickball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn’t June, it was July. I remember your mother walked on the field and brought you cookies and milk. We told her to get off the field. It was on a Sunday alright, but it was a hot August Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what month it was. We beat you guys remember? It was a tie game when Moish hit a ball over Adoff\u2019s roof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn your dreams you would have beaten us. The Joe DiMaggio of stickball, The Creep was on our team. He never lost a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJerry, do you remember that stickball game when the entire neighborhood was watching. Moish was on one side and The Creep was on the other?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. I remember. Moish went to Orchard Beach after the game. We used to call it Horseshit Beach it was so filthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho cares what we called it. Do you remember that game?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started to rain that day and we thought we might call it off. The neighbors, who were watching, held newspapers over their heads waiting for the shower to stop. My mother asked me to go to Jake for pickles after the game. I played a very good game. The boys congratulated me after it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop it! Listen to him. I think he\u2019s getting senile. Who asked you about the newspapers? Who asked about your mother and pickles? Who asked you how you played?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not answering anymore questions if you\u2019re going to insult me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGo home to your wife and tell her about newspapers and pickles and what a star you were.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least my wife respects me, not like you bullies. I can\u2019t believe we grew up together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there a pill you could take for your senility?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t take pills? The last time we were in the diner you swallowed a pack of them for dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t need them. I take them because my wife watches.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBullshit. You had quadruple bypass, atrial fibrillation, you have a pacemaker\/defibrillator stuck in you chest and you\u2019re telling me you don\u2019t need those pills?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPills make money for the drug companies. They make me fatigued.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about that stickball game?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the game we went to Gitelson\u2019s for pastrami on club sandwiches. I put a lot of mustard on mine and I remember that I had terrific heartburn that night. I was the star of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain a star? Another one with Alzheimers. If you could remember, what did you take for heartburn?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI took Vaseline. No, it was something like Vaseline, Milk of Magnesia. It gave me me the runs and left me irritated.\u201d
\n\u201dIrritated? You or your ass?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about that stickball game?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cForget it. It\u2019s history. Stickball isn\u2019t played anymore in the old neighborhood. President Reagan had it flattened. There are only ranch houses scattered throughout the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t go there. I\u2019m afraid it\u2019ll be too emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou, emotional? I remember when The Parrot came to the candy store, you screeched like a parrot and she slammed you with her pocketbook.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe missed me, the bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think you could play a few innings of stickball?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could lead my walker to the home plate sewer-lid, I might manage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it. This demented old fart is going to play stickball!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Boys And A Stickball Game Once again, the boys met in the diner. \u201cAll the neighbors were watching. It was on a Sunday late in June. We were in our summer school vacation when we played that unforgettable stickball game.\u201d \u201cIt wasn’t June, it was July. I remember your mother walked on the field… Continue reading The Boys And A Stickball Game<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3523"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3541,"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523\/revisions\/3541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}