The Christmas where I turned 16 is memorable for me because I was still known as Bob Newman in school and in Straight, most people did not get the connection between my father, Charles Patterson, my stepbrother Mike Patterson, and the fact that I was the only natural born son of Charlie Patterson, only my name was Bob Newman due to to legal games that my mom had engaged in several years prior to Straight. I loved every minute of the confusion that it used to cause the staff, when they tried to make heads or tails of my family situation.
I will never forget that Christmas, for it was the one and only time that my parents really really tried to do the right thing and make everything perfect for us guys. As presents, I recieved for my birthday (Dec 13th) the whole Earth-Sea Trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin. I also got a way-cool Levi's wallet that I kept until 1985 and gave to a homeless day laborer named Stray Ray on Christmas of that year. I also got the coolest book that I had ever read up until that point.........The Shining, by Stephen King.
But all in all, the coolest present I got was a purple Duncan YoYo that I still own to this day.
I pulled it out of storage when I worked to the YMCA before and afterschool daycare and made it a point to tell the kids that the damn thing was over 20 years old and then do all kinds of tricks with it and emphasise the importance of taking care of things that mean something to you. That Yo Yo will still be here long after I have gone, the damn thing is indestructible, and I never for the life of me knew why I had held on to it all those years through all the crap that I had been through, but in the weeks to come, I saw how I had made an impact on those kids, and how they started taking better care of the stuff we provided, because if I could keep a YO YO looking good and able to do better tricks than even the fancy "cheater" yo yo's with the custom ball bearing shafts and counter weights, maybe older was better, ya know?
_________________
In the line of fire, you know what to say
They gave us no choices, just one shade of grey
Back at that hellhole, behind Tyrone Mall
We walked in darkness, kept hitting the walls
I took the time to feel for the door
I had been treated, but what the hell for?
[ This Message was edited by: 85 Day Jerk on 2002-12-18 19:54 ]
