Chapter 1

The other day several of my young employees were discussing some show they had watched on television the previous evening. The discussion branched out and they got to talking about MTV and other channels they enjoyed watching. I mentioned when I was their age we had just three stations to choose from and around midnight the stations would play the national anthem and then shut down until early morning.

Of course they knew nothing about the Indian head test pattern we used to see on our television when the stations were shut down for the night. The test pattern with the Indian head located in the middle of the pattern or what a big deal it was when a fourth station was finally introduced. They were stunned with these bits of information and even more amazed when they learned we didn't have any type of cable ... or any type of dish television ... every station just broadcasted over the air. They wanted to know how we got our televisions to work. I explained about antennas. None of them had ever heard of "rabbit-ears", however, a couple of them had seen antennas still fastened to a rooftop, but didn't think much about it. When I told them at one time almost every home had an antenna on top of the roof, they were speechless. I continued on explaining ... to make matters worse, if you were in a hole ... if you lived in a valley or were surrounded by high hills ... your reception was crummy. I told them how the home where I grew up was located in a television shadow and in order to get reception my dad had to purchase a television tower. This tall tower had an antenna at the top with a small electric motor which would rotate to help with the reception. After my explanation, my younger staff made sure they made me feel like some kind of fossil ... just like I am.

As a youth, I feel I was very lucky and in our back yard, next to the tall television antenna, there was a swimming pool ... an in-the-ground kind of pool. The pool was around 18 feet wide by 30 feet long ... however, it's gone now. The pool wasn't used for so many years that the pipes all rusted out and to try and repair it would have been way too expensive. To remove it and have a new one installed would have been just about as expensive so the new owners of the house chose to have the pool filled in. I was sad to see the pool disappear, but from a financial standpoint, I did understand why the pool was just filled with dirt.

As a boy, the pool seemed huge ... but I'm sure if I could see it again and measure it, it would be a lot smaller then how I remember it in my mind. There was a concrete pad surrounding the pool and at the deep end of the pool was a diving board. Past the deep part of the pool sat a large cabana with a big yellow door. The cabana had three rooms ... the pump room, a small toilet room with a door that shut it off from the rest of the cabana and a large open area consisting of a sink and an excellent shower. Along one wall were lots of hooks to hang up clothing. Two sides of the pool had a tall wooden fence which provided total privacy in the pool.

For a youth, growing up with a pool in the back yard was a big hit with the ladies ... or more accurately, girls. There were a lot of pool parties, some of them mine and some of them were my sister's friends. One party my sister had, some of the girls went "skinny-dippen". I was supposed to be next door at my buddy's house but we decided it would be a great idea to sneak up on the roof of the cabana and catch a glimpse of some naked girls. The plan went well until one of the girls needed to go into the cabana and use the toilet. What we had forgotten was the roof of the cabana was corrugated fiberglass ... which was semi-transparent. Once the girl was finished with her business, she happened to look up as she was leaving the cabana ... we were caught. Shit hit the fan and we both ended up grounded for a month ... but at the time, we thought it was worth it.

The cabana watched my sister and me grow up and I've always felt it's a good thing the cabana has no way to tell its secrets. I don't know all of the secrets the cabana has about my sister, but I know it holds way too many of mine. Like I said ... the pool is gone but the cabana still stands. However, all of it still exists in my mind ... the pool, the tower, the cabana and of course ... the secrets.

The following stories are a series of tales involving the pool and the cabana. I am simply calling the series, The Cabana.