Chapter 3

That's how Grace and I paid for college. The 1954 Derby Superfecta with the time.

Because Daddy didn't tell the bank I wasn't supposed to collect the huge weekly interest now that my deposit had increased, I was collecting three thousand, four hundred fifty-eight dollars and 17 cents each and every week.

Heck ... I was pretty happy with the fifty cents a week I used to get for taking out the garbage.

What the heck, in 1954 I was 12 ... and I'll tell you right now ... I was glad I wasn't old enough to buy a car ... because NEXT year was 1955 and we who lived through that golden age all know what happened to the Auto Industry.

In 1954 ... and for that matter ... until pressure from the Japanese forced Detroit to change it ... next years models came out in September. Sure it was 1954 but Detroit had a way around that... Model Year they called it. Model Year ran from September to September. So we already knew what the 1955 cars were going to look like ... because they were already here.

As far as cool goes, 1955 was Chevrolet's year; Corvette, the BelAir 2 door hardtop, the Delray, the Nomad, and the Suburban all with that nifty little 265 cubic inch V8 that ran rings around the 1955 Ford.

But let us never forget the '55 Ford short narrow pickup ... a true gem.

It was such a gem that Chevrolet brought out the 1956 pickup in 1954 ... at the half year.

The Buick convertible ... absolutely gorgeous, the '55 Caddy ... the Chrysler with the hemi...

Then there was the Studebaker ... long, low slung ... it looked fast standing still ... drool.

I'm not trying to tell you there weren't barkers ... there were ... we who worship Detroit Iron managed to ignore them. Sometimes it wasn't easy. The Rambler ... case in point.

During the parade down US 27-M21 the Indian Summer of 1954, I saw my first Morris Garages MG TF and the absolutely AWSOME Jaguar XK 140

The 140 actually pulled up next to me as I sat car watching on the court house sidewalk steps and the guy driving asked me where Charlie Austin had his Law Offices. All I could was point at our house. I couldn't speak.

I don't think the piece of confection in the passenger seat was his daughter and I was pretty sure she wasn't his wife, but siting where I was, on the top of the stairs, I could see all the way to her navel and the best points in between.

In my last first life Mother told me that a woman who didn't wear a girdle was naked. I was all for naked ... because I was surely looking at heaven. Of course, she caught me looking ... there wasn't any caught about it ... I didn't stop even after I had my first ever spontaneous emission. She noticed.

They pulled around the courthouse and parked on the Front Lawn of One o Five Linden Boulevard ... my house ... and honked. And honked ... and honked until Daddy came out. The girl in the not necessarily clothes shouted, "Charlie!" and slapped a lip lock on him just as the most recent Mrs. Austin walked out on the front porch ... with the most recent edition of CharlieB in her arms.

My ... our ... the wicked stepmother cleared her throat. "Charles ... your friends have woken the baby,"

"Lucy ... meet my ex brother in law ... Vera's brother Harry ... and I don't think I know who this..." he stopped ... a dawning reality flooding his face... "Carole? My God! Carole! Look at you! Good Lord ... you're what? 16?" He mumbled to himself, "Where's David?"

Since the last time Daddy had seen me was while I was car gawking on the steps, he turned, already shouting, "David!"

And of course, I was standing right there ... not even thinking about the stain on shorts ... or the white sauce that was starting to creep from under my shorts. I wasn't thinking ... every time Carole moved, her breasts lagged behind ... just enough to keep my attention. Carole was gorgeous. Carole was absolutely NOT wearing a bra.

Daddy hollered in my ear.

"Oh ... sorry. Where's your sister? Grace! ... Grace!"

The upstairs bedroom window was one of those crank-out windows so popular before the war. Because it was fall and the bugs were dead ... or dormant ... as my grannie was so often telling me ... the window screens on the upstairs bedrooms were already stored in the basement on the nifty rack Daddy built.

Grace had her room on the north side ... because it was cooler ... and my room was on the hotter than hell south end. Decorum was preserved by our own bath between the rooms.

Air circulation was by window fan ... hers sucking in and mine blowing out.

Grace stuck her head out the window ... she was studying ... we were, after all, freshmen in high school ... because I remembered and Grace was smart. We had been jumping grades ever since kindergarten ... which we didn't attend ... well ... not more than two days ... first grade got us first.

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Come down here ... there's someone you need to meet." Daddy hollered back.

"Coming, Daddy."

I knew ... because I'd lived through this twice ... that in 1955, Grace and I would turn 13. Grace would start referring to 'Daddy' as Padre ... as she was extremely proficient in five languages ... thanks to 'Padre's' forethought in hiring foreign nurses.

Chapter 4 »