either side of the road but did display a standard stop and go railroad sign. The driver, who was apparently behind schedule stated that he did not hear the train nor did he see the stop light. In addition to the school bus driving job, the bus driver was also employed full time at another job. After arriving home from school this day, I was invited to view the accident scene but declined this invitation believing that I would be overwhelmed emotionally.
Mother and father for the first time announced to brother and I, that they would be vacationing by themselves. I felt insulted and annoyed and asked them the reason for being left out of this trip. They stated that they received a good off season rate through a travel agent, which would be considerably higher during school vacation time. Mother informed me that uncle, aunt, and their infant daughter would be spending the week with brother and I. I half understood their reason for vacationing without us and was happy that my uncle and his family would be caring for brother and me during their trip. On parents return, many souvenirs were given and mother provided us with the specifics of their wonderful vacation on the island of Jamaica and stated that the entire family would be returning there next year as they felt twinges of guilt, vacationing by themselves.
High school, beginning in early September was thwarted by at least three bomb scares during the first week of school attendance requiring all students to vacate the school buildings while all areas were checked for incendiary devices by outside authorities. These “bomb scares” were becoming commonplace beginning in junior high school through the early years of high school and caused significant anxieties and disruptions to student studies. I remember wondering at that time if there was a way to trace the telephone calls of those individuals responsible for calling in these threats.
I began to spend increased time with school friends who lived in the neighborhood and other friends who lived outside of the neighborhood which required some taxiing on the part of parents. The nature of our friendship interests changed from being based on mostly outdoor activities to indoor activities. We paid visits to a shopping mall, attended movies, listened to music, and talked confidentially to each other about peers we liked and disliked. We did however and on occasion organize hikes through wooded areas.
It was about at this time that I became aware of an increasing number of people who were suffering from allergies. Mother often stated that the culprit of these new illnesses was the contemporary idea of flooring one’s home with “wall to wall” carpeting. Even after vacuuming, these carpets are never completely clean. Dirt remains at the bottom of the carpet that vacuums cannot capture. This dirt resurfaces and becomes airborne causing an eventual allergic reaction in some people. In the past, outside carpet cleaning companies would be hired on occasion to steam clean carpets however, unless done quite regularly sensitive people still experienced the misery of allergies.
While browsing at the mall one afternoon, I wandered into a pet shop and saw the most magnificent fantail guppies. I purchased a few pairs of these fish and began another new hobby of raising fantail guppies. At one point, I had at least one hundred of these fish in two fish tanks and a breeder tank. It