May 19, 2013

• 16 at 16 (first 8)

  Things that happened when I was 16 (to give this meme a new twist):

  1) My brother and I were boarding students at a mission base. The first semester we stayed with families because there were no dorm parents. I lived with an interesting Swedish-American family. He was an airplane mechanic and a great improviser, famous for standing over the engine of his finicky Cushman golf cart, shooting gas into the carb with an oil can as they careened down the dirt roads. She was a great cook. We had fresh milk and vast quantities of homemade butter. Sunday meals were bounteous and delicious, but the leftovers usually got left on the table for a couple of hours while everybody relaxed. By the time the roast got put away, it had a coat of congealed grease over it. The daughter had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. The son had a set of several drums made by Colombian Indians. He had one rhythm he used to whack out, over and over. He had a pet toucan and a parrot. Once they got into a fight, and he ran outside and spanked the toucan.

  2) My best friend Murray from childhood was with me that year after several years apart. We’d had fourth and fifth grades together, and now were together for the second half of high school. It was great having a kindred spirit, after the loneliness of tenth grade. We had many deep talks, and commiserated over our relationship problems. He was much more popular than I was, because he was friendly and outgoing and had a warm personality. We roomed together part of the year, but we were better friends than roommates. (Senior year we roomed with each other’s brothers, which worked better.)

  3) School was postponed a week because the principal was in the hospital. Murray and I spent a lot of the time hanging out with others at L’s house playing Dutch Blitz. I had expected to like L (she was back at the mission base after a couple of years in the US), but we didn’t really hit it off. What iced it for me was one time when I was walking home, and she came by on her motorcycle. (At the missionary base, everyone ran around on little Honda 90s.) I asked for a ride, but she just whizzed on past. A couple of minutes later, she came back and apologized for being snotty and drove me to where I was going. After that I wasn’t interested in her.

  4) I had a pet boa constrictor named Sylvester who lived in a box in my room. Friends used to catch bats or mice to feed him. I carried him around on my head in a floppy old-fashioned golf cap. Once I put him in a teacher’s desk. She freaked. When we went to KC for my sister’s wedding the next summer, I sold him to a pet store. I still regret that decision.

  5) For some reason, I took a job as payroll clerk for the Colombian employees on the base. I actually enjoyed it, which is hard to believe in retrospect. I got paid minimum wage, 6 pesos, about 23 cents an hour. The best-paid employee made 440 pesos a week, at that time less than US$20. I think I held the job three months, then abruptly resigned.

  6) I got my first (and only) soccer cleats. I had always played barefoot because tennis shoes were useless on damp grass and I’d never found size 12 shoes in Medellín, but F bought some cleats in Bogotá that were too big for him, so I bought them. It was nice to end games without the tops of my feet dotted with cleat marks. The cleats got wrecked when we played a game in the mud and I didn’t clean them afterwards until it was too late.

  7) I learned to drive during Christmas vacation on the beach at Bahía Ancón, on the north coast of Colombia. We had a 1971 Dodge 100 pickup, three-on-the-tree. Mom sat with me as I drove around and around the parking lot. When we were done with our outing, I drove back to the main road, and then Dad took over.

  8) I got into shape for the first time in my life. In PE class, I once got paired against my little brother for a relay across the softball field and back. He had always been one of the fastest kids around, so he was amazed that I was right on his shoulder the whole way. We were both on the soccer team, and played volleyball a couple of times a week. I played first base in Saturday softball, and because I could hit to right field (where everyone put their weakest player), I had a good batting average. I lifted weights with Murray and B, starting out weakest but ending up strongest, maybe because of my long arms.

  (This is too long, so I’ll continue tomorrow.)

  • 2:08 pm
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