we didn't know about checking the horse's teeth, or health. We just liked that the spots turned blueish when the horse sweated. We found an Apalossa at Henry Miller's stable on Wortman Ave near Cleveland St. Three Hundred dollars for the horse what a deal. I forget how much the boarding was ,but we didn't care. Well, the good news hit home about the horse purchase. My father for some reason was influenced by my mother yelling " You bought a horse????" " Are you out of your mind?"
Well my father stepped in, and I had to tell my partners, 3 of us, that my father was going down to the stable and getting our money back , for the old broken down Apaloosa.
It was spring, it was flounder season. We needed a boat. Me , Mooney, and Red went to Cross Bay Blvd near the "first bridge". We stopped at the Big Bow Wow for Hamburgers first. Cross Bay had lots of good places , like Pizza City, Weiss's, even Nino's moved there. Well we saw a boat for sale. It was a blue boat with a canvas top , even had a windshield and steering wheel. we knew very little about bouts. Red was a kid who looked old, so he was our lead man. We started the boat up checked it out. We had literally no idea what we were checking out , but the boat was not sinking, that was a good sign. We put a down payment on the boat. Yes, the news got out , we bought a boat.
A good horsepower Evinrude motor,, i think it was 18 feet, and perfect for going into the jamaica Bay and catching flounder , porgies, and stripers. My father went nuts when he heard about the boat. I know secretly he really wanted a boat of his own, and was just jealous.. But he went back to the guy and insisted on giving our down payment back. My father was a big guy ,and probably would have hurt the guy really badly if he didn't give our money back. So he was successful in getting the money back and making us giving up our awesome boat.
So now me Fuzzy and Red were walking down Flatlands Ave. just past the Bat-A-Way,which was a batting range, next to a golf driving range. We stopped at Carvel on Pennsylvania Ave for some Flying Saucers and Brown Bonnets. Then as we walked further we came across the junk yards. We went into Pete's, we really wanted a car, and wanted to fix it up. We saw a great car. A 1956 Olds '88. It was red and white and blue and white.... it had 3 and a half doors. The blue and white was one of the doors. The red and white was the rest. we say a half door because one door was from a smaller car, like a Rambler. It didn't actually fit too well. We had to tie it shut.
We found a garage to put it in up on Hegeman Ave. for $30 a month. We drove and pushed the car to the garage. We paid only about $150 for the car, to the best of my recollection. What a deal. So what if it didn't run too well, we knew we could fix it .. Well, we thought we could.. We were so happy , oh yeah,,I forgot to mention ,, I stole my father's license plate so we could move the car and not get arrested. That''s how my dad found out about the car, he questioned me about the license plate. He was a cop, so he knew how to get the info out of me. The man went bizerk. " how could this SOB sell a bunch of kids a car." my dad said. He grabbed his 38 caliber Smith and Wesson pistol , and rounded up me and Fuzzy and Red . We went up Hegeman to Miller Ave and opened the garage and he looked at this mess of a 3 1/2 door car and said " what the heck is wrong with you kids?".. Of course the car wouldn't start, just when we needed it to start. we put it in neutral and pushed it to the the junkyard. My father drew his gun and flashed his badge.. He said " You sell these kids this piece of junk car..... Now you;re going to give them their money back",,, the guy says , pointing to Red, but that guy is an adult,,, my father said that adult is 15 years old!" Well Pete gave the money back and took the Olds '88 back. We were heartbroken,,, but hey, parents are mean,,, right?
So that was some year, almost a horse, a boat and a car. After we returned the car, we went to Bella Pizza and got a few slices of Sicilian pizza, and tried to forget our misfortune. Parents,, Parents Parents,,,, gotta love 'em
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