Good times in the neighborhood

A "STODGHILL SAYS SO" BLOG

I was thinking today of Burkey the barber and this was probably the first time in many years that anyone remembered the portly fellow who had a shop just down the street. Back in 1936 and '37 we lived right next door to the place where he spent most of his waking hours. By looking out the balcony door just to my right I can see both our old apartment and the building where Burkey had his shop.
As he cut your hair, Burkey's ample stomach pressed tightly against your arm so you could both hear and feel the inner rumblings. Every so often he would emit a noteworthy belch. I looked on that as a highlight of having my hair cut but my dad found it disgusting, or at least pretended to. Clyde B. Stodghill was not a man of great refinement himself so I took his complaints with a grain of salt.
Neighborhood kids, and there were many of them, played on the devil strip in front of Burkey's shop. I'm not sure why because there was a large vacant lot just a stone's throw away. Boys wrestled and fought and played marbles and mumblety-peg while the girls used chalk to mark out a hopscotch ring, or whatever they called it, on the sidewalk. That corner was always busy, but it's strange because today you never see a kid there. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
One snowy day Burkey kept me from committing murder. A boy from my former neighborhood came over to play and hit me in the nose with a snowball. It was the first time I realized I had a vicious temper and would have to work to keep it under control. So I had my visitor on the ground with my hands around his throat until Burkey came out and pulled me away. The boy headed for home and I never saw him again. For months after that Burkey would shake his head and say, "You were going to kill that kid."
Burkey's old shop and Mr. Baer's drugstore next to it in the same building are an apartment today. So is Freese's Grocery next to the drugstore. Mr. Baer was very old and so was most of the merchandise in his dark establishment that rarely saw a customer. Freese's was a typical corner grocery store with the added feature of a few booths at the rear for drinking beer. Mr. Baer lived upstairs above his store and the Freese family, including my friend Dean, lived over the grocery.
The old neighborhood has changed a lot. I wish I could say it is for the better, but I can't. Nearly all the people from that era are dead now, including the kids. I was the least likely of the bunch to still be around, but that's just the way it goes.

Dick,
I like your Blog posts. They are interesting, well written and often just plain entertaining.

I have just completed my latest novel and will soon begin a new one. Your post has given me the inspiration to write about my childhood. At my age, (yes I'm creeping up there Dick) what we experienced in our youth is now history. Historical novels are a big deal today and they don't have to be written about the 15th century.

Great post Dick, and got me thinking about my first neighbourhood. I have moved a lot so that kinda takes an effort, but I wonder where those folks are from time to time too.

Um, Abe, you've finished another book!! Holy smokes you must've been writing a storm quietly in your German village. Congratulations friend! As for historical, well, I am thinking it might be more of a contemporary...but maybe we'll have to decide once it's all done.

Dick, I am very glad 'that's just the way it goes'. You really brighten our days!

Congratulations on another book, Abe!

Pam,
The time away from the forum helped me finish the novel. Often an adversity can be beneficial. I have a publisher interested and asked for the complete ms.
My intended new novel will be fictional based on actual people and events. Therefore I'm not sure you would call it contemporary.

Thanks Zada for your .

Abe F. March wrote:

Pam,
I have a publisher interested and asked for the complete ms.
My intended new novel will be fictional based on actual people and events. Therefore I'm not sure you would call it contemporary.

w00t!! Abe on the publisher interest too!

Hope it works out for you, Abe.

Great news on the publisher's interest and on the new one in the works!!

Abe F. March wrote:

The time away from the forum helped me finish the novel. Often an adversity can be beneficial.

Those who consider this to be a gentlemanly thing to say live in a different culture to me and have different standards.

Huh? I don't understand.

Abe is blaming me for his absence from the forum.

I didn't see that in his post, Shelagh. Like you, Abe is a vital part of this board.

No, not like me. This is my board. I'm the administrator. There was a moderator but he left in March and hasn't been seen since.

I alone control this forum without any assistance and I can shut it down as easily as I set it up.

If I am wrong and Abe is not blaming me, then he will explain what he meant by "adversity" and who or what caused the adversity.

The thing that I like to focus on with this forum is that we have a wealth of knowledge, a vast array of strengths and a bunch of friends and acquaintances with a common interest in writing. As members, we are all very publicly contributing and adding value as well as credibility to the forum itself by the things that we say.
This forum's value is increased by people stating their opinions, and conversations get more interesting when people push the envelope, but when it comes to bashing people, I do not think this is the place for it. I thought that we, as a collective group, would be above that. I think the value of the entire forum - and the book we co-wrote - is diminished when we start walloping one another. Shelagh I think that Abe was tactful in his post. He did not point fingers, but shared how he was able to get his book done. There is some real finger wagging and bashing going on in two other threads that I would think is worthy of intervention by an administrator, and yet for some reason the chips fall here. I don't get it.

My apologies Dick, to the .