Page 19 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

In 1939, we moved to 54 Hillcrest Avenue in Cranford, NJ. Next to the house was a
short concrete-paved slope that I wanted to use for sledding; however, we never had
enough snow to cover the entire pavement. One morning following an overnight snow,
I thought there was

enough packed snow on it for a good slide, but just as I slid ten or twelve feet the
runners would hit the bare concrete and screech to a halt.

That was the year that I tried to earn some money selling Christmas cards. I had no
printed cards, so I created some home-made ones. On the front, I drew a star over some
yellow scratches to look like hay, and inside I wrote a verse that simply said, “And it
came to pass”. I couldn’t understand why some people laughed when they read it.

A few days later when my brother Richard was outside, I locked the kitchen door.
When my brother Richard failed to get in, he picked up an ax and tried to chop the door
open. Shortly afterward, we moved to North Avenue West where I thought I would do
something nice for my brother. Having seen my mother write checks when making a
purchase, I took a blank one and wrote it for 25 dollars. I went to the store in town to
buy my brother a red bicycle for his birthday. The store owner called mother and
canceled the sale!

It was in Cranford that I started taking piano lessons. After learning to play the "Joyous
Peasant", I was saddened to learn that my parents couldn’t afford lessons anymore.
I always loved music. Years later I taught myself enough to play some hymns in
church, but only simple songs with very few sharp or flat keys. My school had a small
orchestra and I was encouraged to learn the violin. I could never learn how to keep it
from screeching!

The New York World’s Fair in 1939 was a spectacular event. Daddy took Richard and
me there. It was a beautiful sight walking through the entrance toward the brilliant blue
reflecting pool, lined with the colorful flags of many nations. Beyond that was the
spear-like Trylon and the large globe called the Perisphere. This was a predecessor of
Disney's Epcot globe in Orlando. Inside was a model of a utopian city. We viewed it
from a moving sidewalk that made it feel like we were looking down from an airplane
or airship.

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