It's South East Asia in the late 50s - let's just say September 1957. I am assigned to MAAG (Military Assistance Advisory Group) Southeast Asia. I was given this assignment while I was in Europe. It seems that my credentials are the only ones that fit the particular assignment.  Oh, l could have turned it down, but then I would have wound up on someone's “Shit List” later on. In all probability, I would have been reassigned from Operations and

Around the age of eight or so I had gotten a beautiful English type baby carriage for Christmas. The carriage had two really big wheels and a set of four smaller wheels. It really was a beautiful carriage. Now I don’t know who had the bright idea to use the smaller wheels of the carriage to make a go-cart but that’s just what my cousin Rodney and I did! Down in the basement of the house on Hortter Street, Rodney and I worked feverishly – as

In North Philadelphia where we used to live on Sydenham Street there was a graveyard that had been purchased along with several blocks of other condemned buildings by Temple University. From Sydenham Street there was a group of us kids – all approximately the same age, give or take a few years – that got into trouble together. When you saw one, the others weren’t far behind. We used to play in the condemned houses that were being torn down

My brother, Junior and I spent a lot of time alone together because our mom had to work. This gave way to quite a bit of mischief by us. One day we found a pack of Chesterfield cigarettes in mom’s cedar chest. We were not supposed to bother with moms things but you’ve heard about when the cat’s away. Anyway, we took the cigarettes and a box of matches and headed for the woods for a smoke. We lay back on a log and relaxed, talked, and had a

I can’t stand weddings.  I don’t like them at all – a whole lot of formality for show.  They are supposed to be a happy occasion, but the last wedding I went to was a fiasco.  It literally changed my whole perception about weddings. It was between two people (a man and a woman) who had gotten together just to prove the family wrong.  What a big mistake that was.  If that was not a sign, I don’t know what was. The day of the wedding of