Were Those Boys Bad Or Just Normal Kids?

There is a Town on the West Side of New Jersey located right on the Delaware River. This town had some real memories and the kids that lived there in the 50's and 60's are still around and remembering the fun times, and sometimes bad times, and often being in trouble by their parents.

There were a group of boys we now call the River Rat Bad Boyz.  We have got back together after a long separation due to moving, getting married and having our own families.

"Where those boys bad or just normal kids?"
I will leave out the names of these Bad Boys for safety reasons LOL.

It all started back in 1956 when I was born, and most of my parents friends on the block had their children about the same time, so we were all the about the same age. There were more girls on the block, but us bad boyz showed them who was boss when we got older.

One thing that just came to mind is when I was walking to the school bus one day and my best friend across the street met me to walk together and handed me a newspaper stating there was no Santa Clause. This broke my heart because we were at the age that we still believed in Santa, I least I did, but not anymore after I saw it in black and white. Well that day was a bummer for me, but I moved on and thanked my friend for ruining my day and my Christmas.

We were so close that you would think we were brothers, and till this day I feel that we are brothers.

The two of us now are reminiscing on our past as the Bad Boyz of the Town.  It wasn't just us two, there were about three other boys we added to the bad list. It just seemed that my best friend and I were the only ones that got caught and punished even though 5 of us were always the trouble makers.

My best friend and I were the masterminds of the things we did. Maybe I should restate that and say I was the mastermind.

Back in the day the Delaware River was dredged for the ships to have more water to go upriver to the factories in which the dredging created huge sand dunes.

These sand dunes were blocks wide and gave us bad boys a place to play and ride our motorcycles. We all had ball and took all those girls on the block for rides.  We were in our glory or at least I was.

Ah, girl friends we now had. We thought we were the coolest boys that ever walked.  Easy riders we were.

Back on the dunes is where we came up with things to do, some good and some not so good. For instance, the night before before Halloween (Mischief Night) we decided to get tooth paste and smear it all over our neighbors screens and while we were doing this we looked up at the window and there was the older man staring right at us.  His words were, "come with me, I am taking you home to your parents!"

The following morning there we were with a tooth brush and water cleaning ever hole in the screen trying to get tooth paste out of the screens, but that is minor compared to this one:

We had one of our tribe poop in a brown paper bag for two days getting ready to do the best of tricks, as we thought, but it didn't work out the way we thought.

That one Mischief Night we took the brown bag full of poop down a dark street and picked out a house we wanted to try this trick on.  There it was and just across the street were woods and a great hiding place to watch what was about to happen.

We let the boy that pooped in the bag for two days have the honors of going to the steps, lighting the bag on fire, and knocking on the door.

He did just that and ran his ass off to the woods across the street.  Well, the bag was on fire and the owner came to the door and saw there was a fire and called the police.  He didn't do what he was suppose to do and that was step on the bag to get the fire out and get shit on his feet.  No, he call 911 and as the wind was blowing it blew that bag on fire into his shrubs and then all hell broke loose, because then the front of his house and shrubs were on fire.

All we heard were sirens going off and we ran for the sand dunes, running along the river's edge and heading home.  As we got home, we still heard those sirens going off.  I walked into my house and my father said, "why are you home so early on Mischief Night?" Why are you full of stickers he asked?

I just said we were down at the dunes and left it that way. Never got caught thank God. That is why I am not mentioning any names because they might still be looking for us 45 years later. LOL

Now, behind our homes there was a couple of baseball fields where we played ball on a league, and on off season we shot our bow and arrows.

My best friend and I would go to the ball field and see who could shoot their arrow the highest, which was a very stupid thing now that I think about it. We shot straight up and one day my friend shot a great one so high we lost sight of it and all of a sudden we heard a loud THUMP.  We said, "what in the hell was that noise?" 

The noise came from the same house we put tooth paste in the screens.  Yes it was that mans brand new car.  The arrow came down out of the sky and directly on the hood of the new car. You talk about a dent, well the arrow almost went straight through the hood.  The man, Our neighbor was pissed once more.  He said, "what do you bad boyz hate me or something?" As he is yelling, then came my best friends father out of his house, and then it started. I was in the clear because I didn't shoot that one.

Here is one thing I masterminded myself and my best friend was not involved...this time.

There was a swamp right behind those baseball fields where in the winter we ice skated and in the summer we made wooden rafts and went up and down the swamp where eventually it went to the Delaware River.

One day three of us went to the swamp with a gas can full of gas for our motorcycles.  I had this brainstorm idea that if you poured gas on a lite match the match would go out. So, I figured we should try it and see if I was right.

I told the one guy, You hold the lit match and told the other guy, pour that gas on the lit match and I guarantee it will go out.  WRONG!!!!!!!

When he poured that gas on that lit match that gas can blew like a roman candle. My friend now was on fire from head to toe and he dove into the swamp that only had about one foot of water in it, but that water at least put the fire out on him, but we threw the gas can into the swamp and now all the water was now on fire spreading down stream.

My poor friend's hair was gone and he ran home as me and the other boy ran to our homes. The Township came down and got the fire out that was in the swamp. Never do anything like that Please.

We thought we were smart kids, but in reality, we were "The River Rat Bad Boyz." 

On a different note, I also write about alcohol addiction and how I became an alcoholic. I write now to help others understand there is always HOPE for SOBRIETY if you truly want it in your life.

HERE ARE A COUPLE LINKS ON THE SITES I WRITE ON.

http://www.thecleanlife-mark.blogspot.com

http:thecleanlife.hubpages.com