Riding High!
Copyright © 2005 Richard T. Douse
He was coming at a dead run from the Owl Drug Store at the corner of Voltaire and Ebert Streets two blocks away. I was standing at the corner of Green and Ebert. I could see him, but I couldn't hear him.
It was Mickey Stangle, my all around A number one best friend. Mickey was seven. I had just turned six a couple of days before. It was the first of June 1945.
"They're coming!" Mickey yells when he is close enough for me to hear.
"Have they got guns?" I holler back.
Mickey skids to a stop in front of me. "No!" he says, breathing hard, "They ain't. . .got no guns!" He turns around and runs back again, with me right on his heels. We run to Voltaire Street, then stop to catch our breath and listen.
"You hear 'em?" Mickey asks.
I cup my ears and listen hard. "Naw. . .wait!" Faintly on the wind I hear it!
Yo-leep. . .yo-leep. . .
"Yeah!" I turn to Mickey, "They're coming sure enough!"
We wait . . .
Slowly, steadily, the cadence builds. Soon we can hear the thump of their boots! Closer and closer they come with that steady, rhythmic. . .Yo-leep. . .Yo-leep...Yo-leep, right, 'o-leep. . .
Then, all of a sudden we can see them! There they are! Rounding the corner and coming six abreast straight at us! They are sailors in white hats and blue dungarees, marching from the Naval Training Center over the hill. . .and, they ain't carrying guns! We're in luck this time!
Mickey and I stand facing them, side by side in the middle of the street as these giants come straight on at us, our heads no higher than the polished brass buckles of their belts. Then, we are engulfed! Huge columns of marching legs come streaming past us on both sides!
It had happened many times before, but not always. Would it happen this time?
Yes! Two big hands reach down and lift me high above the bobbing sea of snow white hats! All of a sudden I'm high upon a shoulder. . .above the world!
I look around. Mickey has found a shoulder too!
We rode like boy-kings. . .with an army that was real. And, for a few brief minutes, we owned the world.
"There's a Navy car in front of your house!" I call back to Mickey.
A sailor in summer whites is getting out of the back seat and he turns to look our way. His right sleeve is cut off short, folded up, and I can see real plain he don't have no arm!
Another sailor gets a sea bag from the trunk of the car and sets it down beside the one-armed man.
"Who is he?" I yell back to Mickey.
"I donno," says Mickey with a frown.
The screen door of Mickey's house screeches open, then slams shut with a bang. Mickey's mom is running toward the man who bends down, then scoops her to him with that one arm of his.
We slide off our rides and stand by the curb, staring. Mickey's mom waves us closer. She has tears streaming down her face. "Meet your dad, Mickey!" his mom calls out.
I look over at Mickey. He's holding back. . .unsure.
"Hello, son!" the one armed man calls out.
Mickey is still frowning.
"It's your dad, Mickey!" his mother repeats.
Mickey looks at his mom, then back up at the man. "You ain't my dad!" he says. "You ain't got but one arm!"
For a long moment they just stand there staring at each other. I'm getting a little nervous now, and Mickey, I know, is all set to run.
All of a sudden this one armed guy steps forward! Quick like, he bends down and scoops up Mickey with that one arm of his and sets him on his shoulder!
"I'm your dad, boy," he says, "and I don't need more than one good arm!"
Well, they walk off to the house, all three of 'em; Mickey's mom and dad, and Mickey riding high. He turns back to look at me and I see he's smiling ear to ear.
Well, I guess thing's gonna be all right after all. . .but all of a sudden I look around and I see I'm all alone. There ain't nobody around and it's getting mighty lonesome fast. I'm feeling like a little kid again. I should be riding high. . .
One thing's for sure, unless I want to ride alone, which ain't no fun, I'm gonna have to find some other friend who doesn't have a dad. . .
Yo-leep. . .
They're coming again! I look around. . .
There's Jimmy!
Yo-leep. . .
"Hey, Jimmy!" I yell to him across the street, "They're coming!"
He looks up quick. "They got guns?" he asks.
"Don't know. . .but, I don't think so!"
"Yo-leep. . .Yo-leep. . .
We're both running now down Ebert Street, toward Voltaire. Jimmy is right on my heels. It ain't for sure yet, but maybe, just maybe we'll luck out! And, just maybe, for a couple of minutes anyway, we'll be riding high once more!#