She stood on the stoop next door to me, as I looked out
surveying the street for someone to play with. Being seven years old, my
imagination was running wild with things to do. Brooklyn was the whole world
and it extended from Pitkin Avenue all the over to Broadway in those days. To
me it was a big enough world to explore and not be disappointed.
She was a beauty in my mind, with a cute little nose and jet
black curly hair, about shoulder length with olive black eyes. She was the
prettiest girl I had seen since Kindergarten, where I fell in love with this
strawberry curled long haired girl, with freckles who whenever she passed me by,
I swooned. But she had moved away in just one semester at school, and so I
moved on, always looking for her.
But the gal on the stoop’s family called her “Cookie” and in
my mind that was the perfect name. She had an older brother named Jerry and
they lived somewhere else, but visited their grandparents just about everyday.
As I saw this vision of loveliness, standing there in her school uniform, I
decided I would try to get her attention.
Between her grandparent’s stoop and mine was a fire hydrant,
or Johnny pump as we called it at the curb. I would give her a demonstration of
acrobatic skill and flaunt danger as I performed my leap over the hydrant, then
for an encore hop up on top of the water release, stand on one foot and jump
down, land on my two feet and do it once again. Yes, I would impress her, she
would beg for me to tell her my name and we would take the trolley on Stone
Avenue and run away together.
Just as I went into my daring performance, someone called
her into the house and she disappeared, as I waited maybe forever, maybe a
little longer for her to come out. Soon Dad came and it was time to go upstairs
for supper.
But now I knew there was someone special right next door,
and I would go to the dining room window and look out to see if I could catch a
glimpse of her. Then one summer night, I found her all alone standing in her
grandfather’s entryway to the alley that led to his garage. I walked up to her
and we talked for the first time. My heart was beating excitedly and I was
almost fumbling over my words! She too looked a little nervous and we had a
nice chat about ourselves, but every now and then someone from my apartment
directly overhead was watching! Sure enough, as the time for going in was announced
by Dad, I went upstairs and there was my Mother, Father and older sister Tessie
(much older) waiting to tease the living heck out of me.
I became friends with her older brother Jerry, we would go
and hang out and talk Dodgers and I would sneak in a question about
Cookie, and then they too, moved away. But soon afterward, Mom and Dad got the
bug to move too, and so we did, where new dreamboats awaited me! I got teased
at every turn, life as an only boy was tough.
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