Page 21 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

In 1940 I was introduced to politics. Wendell Wilkie was the Republican candidate
opposing Franklin Roosevelt, who was running for an unprecedented third term. For
some reason, the name Wilkie captured my fancy and I considered myself a Wilkie fan.
I was disappointed when I learned that FDR had won.

Walking to and from school, I always walked by the U.S. Post Office. They had a large
picture of Uncle Sam facing the sidewalk saying "I Want You". What was so unique
was the way that the finger pointed out. Whichever way I walked by the sign, it looked
like the finger was always pointing at me.

Like many kids, we were always exploring the town. Not far from the Cleveland
Elementary School I attended, there was an ancient red brick school building that had
closed. It was always very spooky whenever I peeked through the dingy windows into
the dark building. Mother always told us to stay away from trash cans and the garbage
dump. But the urge to discover hidden treasure led us to search anyway. When we
would find empty tin cans, we would select two the right size to fit around our shoes.
We laid them on their sides and stomp them so the edges would clamp to the side of our
soles, much as roller skates would. We could then walk on the sidewalk, making a
clomping sound like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz.

I never had a lot of playmates. I usually picked one that I felt close to so we could share
our thoughts and feelings with each other. There was one that I felt was my friend. I
can’t remember if his first name or last name was Howard, but after I spent a few days
walking around town with him, my mother told me she thought I shouldn’t be seen with
him. When I asked why she replied: “Because he’s a negro”. I had always accepted him
as a nice kid and couldn’t understand what was wrong with having a negro for a
playmate.

One day around noon, I was walking a block away from school and I saw a few
classmates were talking. After joining them, one of the boys looked at me and said,
“It’s 2 o’clock at the waterworks”. I was surprised to hear that it was that late, so I said
I have to go home. When I got home, I discovered that it was only one o’clock. I
couldn’t understand why they said two o’clock until I went to the bathroom and
discovered there were two buttons on my fly that were not buttoned!

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