BUSTED AT FIVE

I have mentioned before that we ended up in Youngstown Ohio for my birth because my asthmatic mother could breathe there as opposed to Florida. My father had driven around the country trying to find a place where she would not suffer. Oddly, a dirty steel mill town with soot in the air so thick that one never considered wearing white, was where she drew untroubled breaths. Go figure.

None of us liked the area and we would move away when Mother got better. Unfortunately, moving back to her home state of Florida would re trigger the asthma and eventually, we would return to Murder Town USA as it was once called due to the high presence of the Mob. Later, in the 60's, the joke was that the barbers would would cut your hair for a buck fifty and start your car for a C-note ( also know as a hundred dollar bill). Car bombings were common.

We lived close enough to the steel mills in the 40's that we could see the stacks from our house. There was a railroad hub that serviced the mills and often my brothers and I would wonder down there to see all the strange sights we were unaccustomed to. Ugly and dirty yes, but an amusement park for young minds.

It was after a rain for we had fun stomping thought the puddles as we headed for the train tracks. All the different types of rail cars decorated the large freight yards. There were box cars, tankers, hoppers, and flat beds. All had brought something the mills needed and sat idly on spurs waiting to be unloaded. These all looked like the cars in my brothers train set, only huge.

We found a large pile of gravel and climbed to the top of it to survey the world. As my older brother amazed us with his knowledge of the trains, we tossed pebbles into the large puddle below us, watching the ripples spread.

When we heard the siren, we immediately thought something exciting must be happening and we eagerly watched the patrol car weave its way towards us. Surprisingly, it stopped right below our pile and two officers got out.

"Get down from there right now." the skinny one hollered.

Thinking nothing wrong, we slid down the pile bringing a hail of gravel with us.

They opened the patrol car doors and ordered us to get in. A bit stunned but being obedient kids who were taught to respect our elders, we did just that. We climbed into the back seat and the doors locked behind us.

"We got a phone call that you kids were dumping hopper cars. That is against the law and is not going to be tolerated." the skinny cop snarled.

Not my picture.


Ok, this is a hopper car. I was 5, Jim was 8 and Jack was 15. Had we all been linebackers, we could not have done as we were accused. While Jim and I were struck dumb, Jack got his teenage hackles up and tried to explain what we had been doing and that we could not have possibly dumped the hopper car.

This ticked off the skinny cop. "Some one has been listening to Gang Busters. That is enough out of you smart aleck."

Those of you still spry may need to know that Gang Busters was a crime radio show popular at the time. Remember this was pre TV. I was really hoping Jack would shut up and he did.

The heavy set cop turned to his partner and said, "Lets take them to the station and see what they want to do with them." With that, they drove off with us in the back seat scared silly.

It got really quiet as we drove. I could vividly see in my mind a tiny, windowless cell with a slot for food to be shoved through. I was never going to see my parents or anyone ever again. When that thought hit, so did the tears.

The heavy set cop who had the better attitude turned in his seat to see what the snuffling was.

"What's the matter little one?" he said almost kindly.

Not wanting to admit I was scared, I instead lied and said."I have an earache."

Where that came from I don't know. I had never had an earache, I had never known any one who had one. If I had said that I had a hernia it would have made as much sense. Told you, I am not a good liar.

Their whole intent was to just scare the bejeebies out of us but they got a little nervous thinking I might actually be sick. They looked at each other and with a mutual nod, told us they were taking us home to talk with our parents. This was such a relief for we knew we had done nothing wrong and surely our parents would understand. The important thing was that I was not going to jail. My "earache" cleared right up.

What my parents did not understand however was having a patrol car pull up in the drive, letting their kids out and then having to take an arm waving scolding from the officers on their parenting skills. This was with every neighbor on the block glues to their windows. My parents were so embarrassed.

We did get punished, not for the alleged crime for that was ridiculous, but for going to the freight yard in the first place. My brothers actually enjoyed the notoriety we received as it made them almost heroic in the neighborhood but I was scarred for many years. I grew up with an intense fear of the police.

That fear made me have to take my drivers license test three times for the driving examiners in those days were always in police uniform. I would shake uncontrollably and persistently knocked all the cones down during parallel parking exercise. Third time I tried, my arm was in a sling from a sprain so the officer blamed my slamming of cones on the one armed effort and passed me. I got a "pity license" which I was happy to take.

The only way I got over that fear was when I dated a cop much later in life and realized they really were human beings, often kind of cute, who had no desire to lock me up, at least not in jail. But that is for another day.

Have you ever strayed to the wrong side of the law? Don't admit to anything here unless that statute of limitations is up.