Personal History (1982) - Page 9

... be his present to me on my coming birthday. Tiny [the dog's name] was loving, happy, and full of energy, like me. He made a wonderful partner for our previously acquired white cat Tina. She put up with his playfulness and only swatted his nose to let him know when he had overstepped his bounds. Later Tina was hit by a car and was replaced by an equally playful kitten we named Sissy. They were the two [pets] I grew up with and remember best, but even they were placed when their time came.

Fourth grade was taught by my Aunt Cora, and I was always her favorite pupil. She even commissioned me to do caricature sketches of all the teachers to decorate the hall for Halloween. Those Halloweens always brought with them many enjoyable memories. By this time, I was almost too old to let others know how much I enjoyed dressing up and getting free candy. Mom would always make us a costume, and Dad with his theatrical background would do our faces. I have been a clown and a hobo, a cowboy and a freak, but the most memorial year was one year earlier when Mom convinced me to dress up like a girl. I had gone home for lunch and returned a new person. Cari's dress and Mom's wig converted me into a very convincing young imposter. I went to class and all wondered who was the new girl with the long dark eyelashes. We even started our yearly march through everyone's classroom before some realized who I was. That night we went to Grandma Curtis' to trick-or-treat and she had the gall to ask who the little girl was who came along. It was fun to deceive but it started to hurt my boyish pride to think I would have made much a cute little girl.

By fourth grade, I had also started cub scouts. We had two packs in our ward and I was sent to the pack that met below 2nd West. I didn't know any of the other scouts and was always too timid to participate too completely. I did work on volcanos and started work on my bear and wolf, but when my prayers were answered and I was sent to the other group. I blossomed. I soon had earned all my badges and arrows, and even served as assistant pack leader. But what I remember most is making friends with Rodger Wood, our [scout] secretary. My mother had already taught piano to Rodger's sister, but he had been a secret to me. We did everything together. Our greatest accomplishment was that of seeking adventure and discovering new and unseen lands. We had bicycles by then and were fairly persistent. We would ride our bikes up 4th North and venture deep into the land we called the "B". Every Saturday, armed with a lunch and backpack, we would probe deeper and deeper into the hills above Bountiful only to return to map the areas we had seen. There were ruins, forest, rivers, the flat rock where we would eat, caves never found, and even the "B" itself. My summers were spent well with Rodger.

Even though school and scouts brought new friends, the greatest fun I had was still at home. Together with our friends we would play no-bears-are-out-tonight, tricycles demolition derby, and even house once or twice. Inside we would hang our blankets off the top bunk bed and play spaceship where tennis rackets would become machine guns, and cowboys and Indians would war between mountains made from couches, houses made from each other, ... Next Page