Page 22 - TalesoftheParadiseRidge-Fall2020_Neat

shooting down all my good friends without ever missing Following his directions, I jumped off my tricycle and ran
a shot. We were running up the hills and running down up the hill to deliver the message to Mom and Dad. They
the hills and through the blue dump. The day wore on looked at each other and asked me to repeat the message
and it began to get late, but the game was going well. The and I did. Again, they looked at each other with concern
sun was going down making it much easier to hide and written all over their faces and headed for the door. They
seek your enemy. The sky was getting much darker, and went to one of the bars that were directly across the street
I heard mom call. I was really into my game, and I was from Wheeler’s market. The bar, I think the name was the
really killing a lot of Japanese. I didn’t want to leave. I Sportsman, was not only the local “watering hole,” but
spent a little bit longer playing. I heard Mom call again. also the place for community information, to listen to the
She called me by my full name. I made a few more kills radio if you did not have one at home, and gossip. By the
and walked up to the house. It was getting quite dark, time they got down the hill, a number of people were also
and I knew I could be in trouble. I carried my rifle with entering the front door.
me because it had served me well. I got to the front door
and thought I might leave the rifle on the front porch I did not see Mom and Dad again for several hours. But
because it looked somewhat like a switch. But then if I when they did come home, both their eyes were red and
left the rifle on the front porch, someone might steal it. their faces were very grave. The mood around the house
Finding the perfect weapon wasn’t always easy to do, so, was very somber for several days. It seemed the big
after some deliberation, I carried my rifle into the house question was, “What will happen now, what will our new
with me. True to my greatest fears, Mom saw my rifle as president, this guy Harry S. Truman, do? How will he
a switch, and she let me know with a few whacks on my handle the war?”
bottom that I had stayed out much too late. I didn’t like
the rifle anymore. In fact, I never used it again. Mom did
keep it in the kitchen for a while. I tried to be home early
from then on.

Johnny Coburn was my best friend. In fact, he is the only
person outside of my family whom I remember by name
In Plymouth. Johnny’s family owned the pharmacy that
was just west of Wheeler’s market. They lived in the big
house just west of the pharmacy. Both the house and the
pharmacy building still exist today. The Coburns still
live there. It is my understanding that Johnny at one time
was a town councilman of Plymouth. I think Johnny was
really my best friend when he took me to the pharmacy Sam Dresser
that had a soda fountain and bought me ice cream sodas.
We didn’t get many of them, and it was really a treat.

I do not remember the end of World War II. However, I
do remember the day that President Roosevelt died. It
was April 12, 1945, and was a day like any day for a five-
year-old riding his tricycle on the sidewalks of Plymouth.
I was in front of Wheeler’s market when I looked up the
street toward the ice cream parlor. I saw a Marine in full
dress uniform, white hat, dark blue coat, lighter pants
with stripes on the pant legs, and very bright, shiny
shoes. He was walking right straight at me. I guess you
would call it a parade march. He was at full attention
with his eyes straight ahead. An awesome sight to say the
least. He walked up and looked down at me. He asked,
“Are your mother and father home?” I answered, “Yes.”
He then said to me, “I want you to run home and tell
your parents that the President of the United States had
just died.” He then asked me if I understood what he
had said and asked me to repeat the message. This I did.
He said, “Good, now run home and tell your parents.”
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