Now, When I Was a Kid . . .

If we weren’t in school, sick, eating meals, doing chores or listening to a favorite radio program, we usually were outside playing. We played in the streets, in alleys, back yards, the school yard—and we didn’t play quietly. The degree of noise we made was a measure of what a good time we were having.

On my block alone, the gang (in that relatively innocent era the word gang carried no connotation of delinquency) included nineteen kids who were within a couple of years of my own age. Another dozen were only a tad younger or older, and because our block was so populated with kids, there was an added spill-over of friends from the next block and across the alley. Depending upon the game being played and who was around, anywhere from half a dozen to perhaps thirty kids might be engaged in our boisterous activity.

Sometimes two or three games were played in overlapping territory. It then became necessary to yell over and around other players, and things got even more raucous.

Amazingly, mothers could single out the voices of their own offending offspring from amidst this robust ruckus. Often a mother would lean out a window and put our lusty lungs to shame with her own sonic—boom soprano shout: “Billy! Stop all that SCREAMING!” By implication, we were all chastised, and for a little while we lowered our voices in the vicinity of Billy’s house.

When the groups were large and enthusiasm high, some games went on all afternoon. They recessed at supper hour, then resumed and went on until dark. They usually ended in a familiar pattern.

A couple of mothers would call their wandering offspring. If we were out of sight down the block, these players conveniently would not hear at first. The calls were soon repeated, now more emphatically. Continued deafness brought further calls in a few minutes – this time from male voices.

At this point, the players’ hearing improved miraculously. Callees began to disperse and shout toward home: “Com-ming!” To their pals, they yelled back: “My ol’ man’s callin’. I gotta go. See yuz tomorrow.”

Thus did the games go on….