Memory

The Year: 1985 or 1986

Location: Appleton Village School Playground

Exact Location: Swing Set

I was innocently swinging on the swing set during mid morning recess. Vinny came sauntering up to me. We didn't exactly chat during recess at that age if you know what I mean. He told me he got hit by a car while riding his bike to school. I said something like, "yeah, right". He punched me off the swing and said, "yes, I did". The conversation ended.

The funny thing and not so funny thing is, he DID get hit by a car. The reason why it's funny is he lived AND it has Vinny written all over. Vinny BEGGED my mother to let him ride his bike to school. It was a few miles but we did live in the middle of NOWHERE. So what did Vinny do? He made DARN sure he SEALED any chances of the younger children getting to do the same thing at a later date. He rode on the yellow line down curvy wooded roads. He ended up on the hood of a young woman's car. It probably did WAY more damage to her than it did to Vinny or the car. I do think his bike got destroyed. So, my mother got a call from a neighboring house. She WASN'T happy to say the least. Did I ever get to ride to school in Appleton? No. (I probably didn't want to either).