Page 101 - WhyAsInY
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Chapter Seven
A Misstep, a Misnomer,
and Some Elementary
Misadventures
SEPTEMBER 1949 – JUNE 1956
Wherein our author prepares for and takes his first step on the path to becoming a (formally) educated member of society.
We’ve already referred to my “licking” on the corner of Amherst Street and Oriental Boulevard and my taking a seat on the picket fence outside of my father’s office. There are only two other events that I actually remember from the time prior to kindergarten. Both of those also involved lessons of some sort.
My very first memory is that of a green or blue gel of some sort being applied to my arm by a stranger. That is it. Nothing else. I subse- quently learned that it was not a good idea to put a plaster cast on a broken arm without first lubricating the skin, and that the stranger was Dr. Feinman, an orthopedist, the first of many of whom I would meet in the future. I also learned that attempting to descend a flight of stairs on one’s knees is not a good idea either. I was two years old.
My other memory is that of crying while lying on the floor, covered by a blanket, in what was and still is a nursery school in Manhattan Beach
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