OLOL: Our Lady of Lourdesthere is some electronic banter on FACEBOOK about a grade school reunion
the resurfacing of the 7th grade class photo with all those faces I have not seen and all those names I have not heard for decades has the dust blowing about in my head
all this has stirred up all sorts of memories
just got the email address of one of my best friends from grade school from his younger sister
Kevin Fitzpatrick aka "Fitz" was my partner in crime in all sorts of Tom Sawyer Huck Finn adventures
many of which involved the bicycle
some adventures more wholesome than others
many adventures involving some sort of mischief
one time we went to visit Kevin's dad at his place of work... an employer that would oddly enough become my employer for many years of my adult life
I am not sure if it was known to our parents at the time that we would be riding our bikes downtown
looking back... it was sort of crazy and we were crazy young
maybe 5th or 6th grade
two young kids downtown racing about the city streets on their bicycles
no helmets... and very little common sense
well... by today's standards we were common sense geniuses
but still pretty idiotic just the same
it was funny... it was the late 70's
things were a little more tame... there were fewer cars on the planet
but it was still downtown and there was still traffic
the risks and the "worst case scenario" was pretty much the same
there were messengers back then
I did not realize that they were messengers
all I knew was that we were riding our bikes around and all these guys got made when we went past us and tried to race us
well... we took the challenge
my friend Fitz and I just meandered about downtown
racing whomever we came across
we would sprint to catch them and continue sprinting
this was all well and good until we got pulled over for running a red light
the lady officer scolded me for putting my younger brother at risk
I do not recall saying anything more than "yes mam"
in fact... I never debated that the other boy was not my brother
we were elated with not to getting a ticket... thrown in jail... or worse yet
have the police contact our parents
after that close call with officer friendly we left off for home
we were more than likely exhausted when we finished our round trip from Bethesda to downtown
actually... I may have ridden home alone
while Kevin may have gone back to his dad's office and got a ride home with his dad
maybe at the reunion Kevin can tell me his side of the story