The "Fishing, Smoking, and Looking Cool" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just got a Christmas card from my childhood friend Dick W. Dick was in my wedding and we still correspond with greeting cards. Have to visit him someday. Wonder if I would still recognize him. Has to be at least 40 years since I last saw him. Reading the card that came today brought back fond memories of the warm summer nights that I would wait for Dick W. to arrive to take me fishing. Dick was a year older than me and I never really got to know him until I had to take the bus to school in 7th grade. Seems he lived on the other side of Prince Street and I wasn't supposed to be visiting that part of the neighborhood when I was little. That's the side where my friend Jerry lived and I very seldom got to see him when I was little except in school. Well, when I entered 7th grade I got to take the yellow bus to school every morning. Had to walk a block and a half, cross over Prince Street, and wait at Frey's Lumber Yard. They were nice enough to let the 10-15 kids from the neighborhood wait inside in the cold and rainy weather. That's when I met Dick W. We both talked about going fishing and how much we enjoyed it. Then when he turned 16 he bought a 1953 Chevy. It was the neatest car, or so everyone thought. He had wheels and freedom. In the summer after he turned 16 he would pick me up at my house and we would go fishing. Usually 2 or 3 times a week. My parents met him and approved of him so I was good to go. Little did they know that Dick supplied me with some smokes (legitimate ones) when we were fishing. That's when you wore white t-shirts and rolled the sleeves up and kept your smokes in your sleeve. That's what Dick did and he looked really neat. We were COOL! We sometimes fished close-by, but most of the time we went to Safe Harbor Power Plant to fish. You parked and then walked in the guard house to sign your name before you were allowed on the dam. The concrete dam would vibrate sometimes from the power of the Susquehanna River flowing through the gates of the dam. We fished the gates for anything that would bite. Always used worms which we would get the night before from our back yard. If you have never gone worm hunting, you've been deprived of a great time. Have to wait until after dark and the grass gets damp. The worms come out of the ground and you use a flashlight to spot them and grab them before they can get back in their hole. Real fun thing to do! OK, back to the story. At times the alarm would sound on the dam and everyone would have a few minutes to clear the dam before they would open more gates to help generate more power. Weren't allowed on the dam when they opened the gates because of safety. Then the alarm would go again and everyone would return. When it would start to get dark you were expected to return to the guard house and sign out. After I turned 16 and got my 1953 Henry J we took turns driving. I have many fond memories of fishing, smoking, talking about girls, and laughing with Dick W. at Safe Harbor. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - In my wedding photo, Dick W. is in the back row, second from the left with the big smile. I'm sure he's thinking of the good times we had together. He was one of my ushers.