I AM VERY SIMPLE
Not much there, I've heard it said.
My father, not a boaster, was born an
orphan and sent away - just that quickly -
foster home and orphanage and healthcamps
he abhorred. At 16, running off to join the Navy,
he enlisted with a very false given age. No
one seemed to care. Next stop : Solomon Islands,
but not before, as he always put it, a few trips
to 'the biggest whorehouse in the east' - that
would be, according to him, Scranton, Pennsylvania;
from sea to shining sea. 'A real navy town, that
was, inland as hell, but the ladies was swell.'
Anyway, that's all I really remember of what
he said. Later, he learned a trade, upholstery,
after sewing up body bags for three years on
board a battleship-tender; that's a ship that
brings supplies to the larger ships at sea.
Battleships, which needed 'tending'. So
much fun I could hardly remain.
-
There's a lot more to tell, but, suffice
it to say he was simple as Hell,
and, then, so am I.
My father, not a boaster, was born an
orphan and sent away - just that quickly -
foster home and orphanage and healthcamps
he abhorred. At 16, running off to join the Navy,
he enlisted with a very false given age. No
one seemed to care. Next stop : Solomon Islands,
but not before, as he always put it, a few trips
to 'the biggest whorehouse in the east' - that
would be, according to him, Scranton, Pennsylvania;
from sea to shining sea. 'A real navy town, that
was, inland as hell, but the ladies was swell.'
Anyway, that's all I really remember of what
he said. Later, he learned a trade, upholstery,
after sewing up body bags for three years on
board a battleship-tender; that's a ship that
brings supplies to the larger ships at sea.
Battleships, which needed 'tending'. So
much fun I could hardly remain.
-
There's a lot more to tell, but, suffice
it to say he was simple as Hell,
and, then, so am I.
2 comments:
Oh gawd i used to live in Scranton Pennsylvania. Couldn't take it. Moved to Clarks Summit 10 miles north.
Wow, really. I lived in Columbia Crossroads, east Troy, East Smithfield, that entire area in the 70's for a few years, 75 miles west on Rt. 6 out of Scranton, past Towands and Burlington. I truly love dit there; crazy, wold backcountry. Had 12 acres and a rambling old farmhouse and barn, with out buildings.
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