Culm Bank Behind Her House; New DeLuxe Refrigerator; Penny Candy.

Across one of the main streets in my neighborhood, lived a girlfriend of mine. This must have been when I was seven, eight, or nine. I was old enough to be allowed to cross Chestnut Street. I would go to that little neighborhood to play with her. I don’t remember her name at the moment, but we used to have good times together.

I had to go up an incline from the street on a road which was really just an alley ‘paved’ with black coal cinders. There were at least two or three houses on that short little road, and my girlfriend lived in the middle one. There was a very high bank of culm, the refuse from coal mining, right behind her house.

There was a little piece of backyard with green growth, like an old lawn. We played in the back yard, on their back porch, and under the porch. The porch had a white latticed skirting on it, so it was a tiny bit secluded under the porch. We’d take the toys with us, probably playing house or something, and it was rather cozy under there.

We didn’t spend all of our time under the porch. We colored in our coloring books, and played silly games, sometimes good games, and once in a while we would play in the house, in the kitchen.

Her mom had a new refrigerator, and it was rather elegant. The mom called it her ‘DeLookes’, as it must have been a General Electric Deluxe Refrigerator, 1940. She pronounced it DeLooooooookes, and I thought that she must  be pronouncing it wrong. Being as old as I was, then, I must have been thinking that I ‘knew it all…’

Another day, my Mom gave me a few pennies to go to the candy store (the lower store on Chestnut Street), to buy some candy I would like. There were so many different kinds of candy to choose from! Almost all of it was penny candy. I felt so rich!

There were Squirrel Nutz or something; and ZigZag wrapped candies; red-hots, which were bright red colored, with a very tangy spicy flavor.

Ribbon candy colored with stripes and flavored with different flavors in each stripe. Valentine candies unwrapped, with words in pink on heart-shaped little pieces. “Be Mine” – “Love” – “Talk to Me”.

Rock candy made of sugar water and different coloring, then poured into molds. Sometimes it took so many minutes to pick and choose. I wonder how many times the storekeeper almost lost her temper, behind the candy case, waiting… and waiting…                          Aaahh … Childhood …