Mo (One Step at A Time)

Alright, we're gonna lighten things up with some elementary school memories here. This one is fun. So boyish, so real. But … how should I put this… let’s just say in the part about fifth grade… well, think fifth grade humor. I cringed, and then I laughed. And cringed again…

Mo

November 12, 2009

One Step at A Time

In 4th grade, a tall kid came and told us he was a quarterback and a pitcher. Although I was the shrimp of the class we became best friends and traded comic books. Some people wouldn’t take my comic books because my cousin Johnny kept getting peanut butter and jelly on them.

Johnny was 2 years younger but only a grade behind me. He started school at age 5 but was as big as kids a class or two ahead of him. By 4th grade I was headed to the town  playground after school every day. Sports became my easiest way to make new friends.

As an only child I was more eager to meet new people and sports at the playground was the first step. No adults were around so the older and/or bigger kids kept things kind of organized. No adults were involved during the school year.

By 5th grade basketball became interesting enough that we did work for the janitors at the public school in exchange for time on their basketball court. There was no gym at our Catholic school at the time.

Also in 5th grade a new kid tried to be a bully at the playground. He had flunked once or twice so he was taller and talked tough. My dad had taught me how to box so I punched the bully at the nose in the playground. He became a friend and stopped bullying people.

However he used a crayon from the art period to color his penis which he later exposed during a Spelling Bee. Some of us couldn’t stop from laughing and got kept after school because we wouldn’t say why we were laughing. The girls never let on they knew and I was too shy to even think of asking them.

In 6th grade a tall strong kid named Louie Spuielli came from South Philadelphia and became my best friend of all time.