July 19, 2016 (Tuesday)
Oh, the stuff we did when we were kids.
Some of the actions were downright dangerous, but we didn’t know that. For instance, the mercury from an old thermometer. We broke the glass tube, collected the mercury and rubbed it on coins. That process made the coins shine brightly. We had no idea we were poisoning ourselves.
There was a little weed that grew in our yards. A tiny stalk a few inches high with clover-like leaves, also very very tiny. We stripped the leaves with our hand and popped them into our mouths, bragging all the while about how good they tasted. We called the plant, “pepper.” To this day, I have no idea about its identity. I’m guessing it was non-toxic; we survived.
We would rescue old playing cards from the trash, pair them with clothespins, and attatch them to upright parts of our bikes, so that they would contact the spokes of the moving bike. That made a sound that resembled a small motor. It was fun to do, although it accomplished nothing.
We boys always had a pocketful of marbles, or a small bag of them tied to one of our belt loops. It was a status symbol. Whoever had the most was considered a leader of sorts, although we had no name for the position.
The marbles themselves had status. An agate was prized. A multi-colored, oversized one really made the guys envious. The teachers said we could not play for keeps, but everybody did.
We had no T.V. We had no video games. Some of the things we did may have been dangerous, but we always found something to do. We had fun. We were kids.