Ah, what a summer.
It was the summer that everything changed - I just finished Grade 9 and was due for High School. And we moved to da T dot O.
Grade 9 was awesome, particularly on the outside of school. Brian had moved to town the summer before; we were best friends even before the first class in Grade 9. We fortunately were in the same class, and hung out on weekends.
I met Brian through Lisa. Lisa and I started hanging out since we were both always at the mall. That was probably a year before Brian showed up on the scene. Lisa was the biggest tomboy I've ever known before or since. The Poor thing wasn't the brightest and typically didn't have two clicks to make a clue. And forget social grace.
She was cool.
I started smoking because of her, for example.
Ok, now that you've been introduced, I shall recount a 24 hour period starting on a Tuesday in July 1984, about a week before the Move.
I hooked up with Lisa in the early afternoon. She invited me to go up to the Howyes'* on the mountain. The plan was to go up there with booze to meet up with one of the daughters, have a few swigs, then come back to town. (Lisa warned me not to ask to go to the washroom when we were there, as they didn't have one).
*Not their real name to protect the washroomless.Lisa and I bought a 2 litre bottle of 7-Up and immediately started chugging it to make room in the bottle. We then rode to her place (Bikes are awesome when you're a kid) and started pouring liquor into the 7-Up from her parent's cabinet. Off to my place to do the same. A bit from each bottle. I had great parents because they didn't drink at home. This meant they wouldn't notice some booze missing. I was a very fortunate child.
We spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling, not sure what we were actually up to, but eventually ended up in the mall. We were still lugging around the Wades shopping bag which contained the bottle. We stopped by to say 'hi' to Lisa's mom. Lisa unfortunately had to stay in that evening for whatever reason.
Across from the mall and down a bit was a nice-sized field which had really one purpose - to cut through to go somewhere else. This was evidenced by the paths that ran through it. Lisa and I chilled out there for awhile. Eventually it was time for us to part ways. All that was left was to settle who would take care of the bottle.
Either of us could have taken it and hidden it at our respective houses. There was however one catch. Lisa didn't trust me, and I didn't trust her. After some debate, we decided we would leave the bottle where we were. Close to the bath was an Evergreen with branches down to the ground. We concealed the Wades bag under that tree.
After dinner, I went to the elementary school to hang out at the playground with Brian. We ended up getting into a fight about something stupid, and he left (he later admitted he was just mad I was moving away). After he left, I continued hanging with three teens at the playground.
There was one girl I knew from my newspaper carrier job. I at that time was the Head Carrier, a responsibility on its own as I was responsible for delivering the pay envelopes to the other carriers. I got an extra dollar for doing this. Hanging out with here were two brothers that I had never met before. They were visiting from New Brunswick, were around my age, and possessed the same rebellious streak I was developing. They were smokers, for example. And they were cute. They were in town to visit their grandparents, who lived at the end of my street.
The sun eventually set and the streetlights came on. This was the standard indicator for many that they needed to go home. The girl did, post haste. That left me with the two brothers, mulling what we should get up to. One mentioned it would be really cool to get drunk; too bad we didn't have booze.
Off we went to the field, the boys becoming more optimistic as I recounted the days' events. By the time we got to the field the sky was dark and starting to cloud over. There was distant lightning giving a spectacular show in the sky.
We all took turns chugging the swill from the bottle. As we stood there drinking, smoking and cavorting, my tone turned serious. For I would seriously get in shit with Lisa. It wouldn't be a stretch even for her to realise I stole the booze. There was no puddle for which to refill the bottle. I insisted that we don't drink it all. Perhaps we could go to the Handy Stand, buy pop, and refill the bottle. As we discussed our options, one of the boys said, "I'll be right back. I'm just gonna take a leak."
We took turns refilling the bottle. My thoughts were passing at a dizzying rate. I was already feeling a buzz. I was concerned that Lisa would not fall for this as we certainly didn't have enough liquid in our reserves to compensate for what we took. I was intrigued at the excellent glimpse of both the brothers' ding dongs this solution afforded me.
We spent the balance of the long evening enjoying the outcome of our trek to the field. Curfew came soon enough; we made plans to meet late the next morning to hang out some more.
Morning came too quickly. After popping some Tylenol, I had to make my way to meet my replacement paper carrier. This would be my last week after about two years, to deliver the paper. I had 130 houses for which I received 3 cents per paper and a penny per flyer. The new kid was to shadow me to get to know the route.
I met with the kid, gave him the papers and the bag, pointed out to him the route, and told him good luck. For I had plans with the cool kids and couldn't concern myself any further with this young bloke.
Later in the afternoon, I met up with Lisa. She wanted to go reclaim the Wades Bag and its contents. She was concerned if we left it there too long, it would be found and we would be out our hard-earned nectar.
Of we went to the field. With every step I was feeling more apprehensive. I suddenly realized I did not have a sufficient plan to compensate for the fact the bottle was full of piss. Lisa pulled the bag out from under the tree, took the bottle out and gave it a quick inspection. She didn't seem to notice it wasn't as full as the day before. Phew.
"I'm thirsty. Do you want to have a swig with me?"
"Um, OK. You go first."
Lisa opened the bottle and helped herself to a healthy swig. I was frozen in fear. Lisa took another swig. This time, she spat it out in disgust.
"I think it went bad in the sun."
I took a smell of the contents, and agreed with her that the sun must have made our concoction sour.
She poured it out.
A sense of relief filled my body. As did the realization I would never be as cool as Lisa.
Categories: Friends, Life, Urbanless
Apartment buildings nearing completion at York Mills (foreground) and Leslie.
The towers of Flemingdon Park, with Thorncliffe Park in the background.
