Adulthood began trickling into our veins as we lept from grade 4 to 5, our finely tuned imaginations spawned anticipation for lives unfolding.
Movies and the lines they were famous for supplied valuable tools for the budding awareness of life as we relived scenes over and over from our favorite movies.
ESCAPING THE BLUES
Walking the short jaunt home from school, two groups of students emerged: girls who carried their Nancy Ann Storybook dolls and guys who wanted to kick anything in the way (nothing alive, of course).
The route always seemed to take us to the "soon-to-meet-their demise" houseboats, which were located near Little Beach on 43rd Avenue. We would run from one plank to another, climbing all around just being kids.
One day, we looked down 43rd and saw hundreds of police cars. They stopped and, in voices at full volume and in unison yelled, "Get over here! What are you doing? Who are you?"
We answered very quietly, "You'll never take us alive, Copper!" (a James Cagney movie line), but they chased us as we ran from one houseboat to another, removing the planks behind us.
This really annoyed the blue giants as it appeared we were making a near-clean getaway.
We passed houses, or what some considered "shacks," with big windows that dared us to throw rocks at them as a way of impressing our doll-clutching friends. Proudly letting loose of handfuls of boulders did not seem to impress the fairer sex as they proclaimed us "childish."
Mid-block, hundreds more cop cars, with lights flashing, showed up with what might have been a gunship above. "We're trapped like rats!"
They backed us against a wall, and we looked up at their faces almost falling over as they again spoke in that police language at full volume that managed to loosen one of my fillings.
After taking our names, addresses and next-of-kin information, we stood fast, huddled side-by-side, hearts pounding, eyes glazed over - but no tears. We were proving to be pre-adults, but it was really more of a test of bladder control. Their every word kept cadence with our knocking knees.
Then they left. All the neighbors watched as we stood tall and yelled to the cars, "And don't come back, y'hear?"
Now we were on the most-wanted list, so we had to lie low.
A NEW PLAYGROUND, NEW FRIENDS
Some time later, the old houses were taken out, and in their place appeared two-story houses just being framed with scaffolding all around and ropes to haul things to the roof. This was our newest playground to be sure!
The girls watched as we swung like Tarzan, climbing to the roof, yelling our mostly high voices with slight bass overtones. Guess who came to see this performance? There must have been a thousand cop cars, and one of my buddies even thought he saw a couple of tanks.
"They have us surrounded."
We stood on the scaffolding on the second floor and looked straight into their eyes. This time the volume was much louder because they were so close. Watching their mouths we could make out a few words. Jail was one of the major ones we detected. But heck, we weren't hurting anyone - we were just being kids!
Impressing girls was not an easy thing to do and wasn't making sense. One friend gave up a sleepover to help a girl baby-sit! This guy really deserved a razzing.
Many months later, we all went to a matinee. I held a girl's hand and even shared my popcorn with her. I even attempted to put my arm around her. What was happening to our pre-adult gang?
Soon, we even walked closer to the girls after school. The storybook dolls seemed to be taking a back seat, as well.
THE SWING SHIFT
Toward the end of the school year, we heard a loud banging coming from the end of Madison.
As we walked toward the end of the street to the lake, we saw a huge barge with a gargantuan boiler and tall mast. There was a long boom atop, with rope lines to lift logs.
We stood there frozen, our gaze fixed at those long Tarzan lines that if you got a running start, you could swing all the way across the ferry slip.
The boiler was still spewing steam as the workman walked by. Looking hard at each other we knew, no matter what, this could be better than the rides at Playland, at 125th Street and Aurora Avenue.
We took many turns swinging as the girls watched with interest, but eventually the Blues showed up. Standing tall, they approached us. In a normal voice one said, "I know there isn't a sign, but this is private property."
One policeman mussed my hair and said, "OK?" We replied in the affirmative.
THE HIGH DIVE
That summer we met Leo Elliot, who was to be known to us as "The Hero of Madison Dock." He dived from the top of the crane, and we applauded! The people on the beach applauded. The young man was fearless.
We all dove for coins that summer. "Penny, nickel, dime; get it every time," we yelled to passengers two decks above on the Kirkland ferry.
Not able to find enough guys to play baseball in the street, the mere mention of a game called "Spin the bottle" brought everyone out. Go figure.
Richard Carl Lehman is a Madison Park resident. Send e-mail to him at mptimes@nwlink.com.
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