the daily route

I walked down the driveway and turned left. a quick left again and a straight stretch along Garcia Avenue. Walking along in my ponytail, with my Trapper Keeper Binder stuffed in backpack, I always thought the houses were soooo nice. All of them had neatly manicured lawns, pretty flowers, and well groomed shrubbery. The homes were not big (especially by today’s standards), they were very modest, but on the outside, all well kept. As I walked by, I often wondered about the people who lived there; what were they like, what did they do, etc…Some of them I knew just a little because I delivered their morning paper, The Daily Review. A lot of the residents were actually elderly folks. I liked some of them…especially those that game me $.50 or $1.00 tip when I collected the fees for the newspaper at the end of the month. Man, I was pretty damn excited to get 2 quarters, 4 quarters or a dollar bill.

The first break in the block meant that I came to Tim Chiu’s house. Tim was a tall, lanky, very smart and shy kid in my class. We exchanged “Hi’s” whenever we saw each other and I tried to draw him out in conversation a few times, but he never said much. I’m sure we never spoke more than a few words to each other all though Elementary/Junior High School. At recess time, I always saw him with his younger brother and no one else. I wonder what happened to Tim and what he is doing now. I hope he overcame his shyness because he seemed like a very nice person. I hope he is kicking some ass in this life…even though he beat me in the spelling bee! (Tim was 1st, I was 3rd)

The next big break in the block brought me to East 14th Street, one of the big main streets in town. I went into the 7-Eleven almost every day to get some candy; Lemon Heads, Jolly Ranchers, Now or Laters…those were some of my candy staples. I crossed E. 14th Street and on the the stretch of Sunnyside Rd. I didn’t notice the homes on this street because the CATS stole the show. There were a ton of cats sauntering around…more like creeping around…that’s how I felt. All the cats really freaked me out. I felt like they were circling me and getting ready for an attack…staring at me with their creepy eyes and slinky bodies. I couldn’t wait to get passed that stretch of road. Near the end of the street there was a small park that I cut through to enter the school from the backside. Soon enough I was on the blacktop of the schoolyard and then into the classroom. That morning walk always seemed sooo long….but now as I map it out, I’m shocked to see that door to door, it is just about 1 Mile.

Looking forward to being there one more time…