Stories from Long Ago

Over the years as I have helped get my daughters to bed they have made the request "Tell us a story from when you were a little boy", with which I was always happy to do. My brothers mock me because I remember everything from our childhood; names, places, etc. There are a couple classic stories that they wanted to hear over and over, so here they are-

We (my brothers, friends and I) would ride our bikes to Safeway grocery store about a mile away from our house,  and once there one of us always had to stand outside to "Guard the bikes" so they wouldn't get ripped off. Well, I was about 7 years old, and extremely short, and it was my turn to watch the bikes. So there I am, just standing there minding my own business, when a kid probably 12 years old walks out of the store, takes a huge wad of gum out of his mouth, shoves it in my hair, and just kept on walking, never breaking stride! I stood there, dumbfounded. I recall the agony of my mom cutting my hair to remove the gum.

The other story they loved to hear often was the story of "Rubberhead". I attended Fremont Older Elementary School in Cupertino, CA. and as luck would have it, the school was pretty much across the street from our house, well, the back entry was. There was probably an acre of dirt with a tar path down the middle of it, then the grass field and school. I was in 3rd grade and on my way home from school with everyone else. I was throwing rocks high into the air to see them land, creating the puffs of dust when they hit. Well, I chucked a rock as high and hard as I could and as I started seeing it's trajectory, I knew there was going to be a problem. David Darknell, a 6th grader, was walking way ahead of me. I didn't yell or warn him, I just winced and waited for impact. The rock hit his head and bounced a good 30 feet off of it! He turned around to see me standing there looking really guilty. He ran at me, I didn't move. He grabbed the back of my neck, squoze it hard, and made some unintelligible comments. But once again, my being extremely short and small played a role, because he kind of just shoved me and went on his way. But from then on, he was always known as Rubberhead. 

So there are two stories that have shaped my character and built me to the person I am. I will share more another time.