Childhood memories Amazingly, I’ve recently published my third book. I started writing all of a sudden. Once when I was babysitting for my sister, my nephew asked me to tell him a story. I told him about some adventures with my friend, Johnny Price. My nephew got interested in my childhood memories and, later, these stories turned into my first book for children. The main heroes of the book were Johnny Price and me. My childhood friend, Johnny Price, lived three doors down the street. Our friendship lasted for only about three or four years, but it was a very important part of my childhood. That’s why I still feel like calling Johnny ‘my best friend’.
Like every kid on our street, Johnny and I had bikes. We used them to get to the Grants', a family who owned a convenience store one street over from ours. We would go with some of our weekly pocket money and buy ourselves some candies, bubble gum, a bag of chips and a Coke or Pepsi. Most small candies were one cent each, so fifty cents seemed like a lot of money. We quite often walked out of the store with a bagful of fifty candies. We thought it would be great to get a job at the store one day. But we never tried to get one.
Another thing that comes to mind is how we used to sit in my parents' car and listen to music on a cassette on the car stereo. One thing that I clearly remember listening to is the main theme from the film ‘Superman’. For some reason this memory is very powerful. Even today when I hear the ‘Superman’ soundtrack it takes me back to being a little kid eating chips and sour candies in the car.
I’ll never forget how one day Johnny found a frog and decided to keep it, as some sort of pet. It didn't take long for his parents to explain to him that it wasn't such a good idea, so Johnny decided to let the frog go free. So we walked down to the bridge and let him go into the stream. We then stood on the bridge and watched him float downstream, wishing him the best of luck.
Johnny and I had fun doing a lot of things together, but we sometimes had our differences. I can't name any of the things we had disagreements about, but whenever we did, and whatever they were about, it often resulted in both of us walking away from each other in anger and saying we would never talk to each other again. Of course, almost always, the next day one of us would call the other up as if nothing had happened.
However, after one serious disagreement we never called each other back. Whatever it was, it ended our friendship. I've often wondered what made us part ways forever. It was probably something silly that only thirteen-year-old boys could get so annoyed about. |