Posted on 07/20/2024 8:45:32 AM PDT by OneVike
From time to time I reach back into my memory bank and write about my past. This one was a memory that I have been wanting to share for years, and I finally put my memory to type.
Everyone has memories they cherish from times when they were growing up. I have many memories, but none of them are as memorable as the ones I have of the Summer of “73”. That Summer holds some of the most cherished memories of my teen years. Yet it also includes memories of doing things that would lead to more bad behavior in my life. It was a time in my life when I was between being a boy, and wanting so desperately to be a man. I did some stupid things that Summer. The overall culture of a carnival life is one of drugs, alcohol and sex. While I did do some drugs, and yes I engaged in some sex, most of what happened to me that Summer was tame in comparison to what it could have been like if it were not for a certain woman named Mary, who treated me like the son she never had.
In a screwed up family with eight children I was the youngest. Raising eight children from a man who went to prison wasn't an easy task for my Mom. The eldest pretty much raised the younger ones, because Mom had to work to provide us food and shelter. While she did remarry, our stepfather would often drink and gamble his paycheck away before he even got home on payday. I was seven when my father went to prison, and by the time I was sixteen in 1973, I was the only one still living at home. I was to the point in my head, that the last thing I wanted to do was attend any more classes.
When Mom found out I dropped out, she was mad, but she was also tired of fighting. So she took me down to the Army recruiting center to see if they would sign me up. There was no way they were signing up some scrawny kid who barely turned 16 a few months earlier. So my Mom gave me the ultimatum. I was told to either get a job or go back to school.
I was in luck, because the father of the girl I was dating owned a lumber yard, "Anderson Lumber." So I started working for Arne Anderson. Most of it was manual labor, but I did have a chance to learn how to operate a forklift. It was less than a Month later that me and his daughTer, Dawn, broke up. The next day I went to work and I was handed a paycheck and told I was fired. There are some fairly interesting aspects to that whole situation that I may write about some day, but for now I'll leave it at that.
Shortly after being fired, I met a girl named Mandy who's family had come up from Southern Minnesota to spend the week with her cousin's family, which lived next door. Her aunt was getting married, so I ended up being invited to the wedding, which allowed us to get better acquainted. We hung out all week and really got to like each other. Turns out her father took a liking to me.
After the wedding, as they were getting ready to head home, her father asked if I was interested in a job for the Summer, working on his farm. He even told me I could stay with them. I accepted the offer, and was told he would come and pick me up in a few weeks. A few days later, My brother got me a job working on the carnival with him.
When the carnival ended, and I helped them pack things up, I figured I would be heading South in about a week to work on the farm. That's when the owner of the game I worked on, Mary Lou Zeicheck, approached me and told me she liked the way I worked. She then asked if I would like to travel with them. There I was, a 16 year old boy with a choice to either go down South and work on a farm for the Summer, or travel around the country working on a carnival. It took a whole 5 seconds for me to consider my choices, when I blurted out, “You betcha”. I still had that strong Midwest accent that the movie Fargo made fun of. Mary told me that I would need my Mom's approval and that she would have signed legal custody of me over to her. The reason was the Carnival was heading to Canada, so crossing an international border meant paperwork.
I remember approaching my Mom with the idea, thinking there is no way she would sign legal custody of me over to a total stranger. After all, carnivals had a bad reputation, and signing the papers meant that Mary and Lou would become my legal guardians. At the time I figured my best bet was spending the Summer working on the farm for Mandy's father. You can imagine my surprise when I learned my Mom couldn't wait to sign the papers for Lou and Mary Zeicheck to gain custody of me. The next few days were a whirlwind as my Mom packed my bags, put me in the car, drove me to the carnival, and kissed me goodbye. I was going to spend the Summer traveling around Canada and the USA as a Barker for a game called the, “Crazy Ball”.
(Excerpt) Read more at TRFMF.com ...
Exactly.
Todays young men are so timid they allow their girl friends to drive.
As a young man, even if it was her car, I said give me the keys. Thee ladies always obliged and let me drive.
Nice story. In the summer of ‘73 i was flying interdiction patrols, With 9 of my closest friends, between Utapao Thailand and Cam Rahn Bay Viet Nam. Lots of fun. Yellow Brick road.
Not exactly the carney but exciting enough and it was a growing experience, lol.
Forgive me, this is embarrassing. I was supposed to be referring to 1972. (I’m getting old and sometimes forgetful 😒)
We all have those moments. Thanks for your service. I joined a few Months after I finished the carney tour in November “73”.
All the fighting was over by then, or at lest our troops were being brought home. So my tour of duty was uneventful.
i left in 1998 and have only been back 4 times, but that is because i have now adult kids that live there along with their mother.
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