JOFRoute66.Com - Stories

SNOW BIG DEAL

One of the many adventures Doug and I liked to reminisce about the only time I went to winter camp with the Boy Scouts. We were Two Twelve year olds bound to find fun. On a fun outing, we strayed off. Climbing the hill next to us, we found the radio relay station at the top. The trip down foot first left of will frozen butts, regardless to say, we had to do it again. This time we were in trouble for disobeying a direct order not to go on the second trip.

- THE PUNISHMENT: KITCHEN DUTY.

We had to do the dinner dishes for Fifteen people. A long and argues process for Two boys whom didn't have any liking for the punishment. But even then, we found fun. The tile counter top was covered with water from the rinsed dishes and now the light weight plastic drinking cups were sliding back into the rinse water. Next thing the Scout Masters new, Doug and I were having cup races. That was the end of it. Now it was "Capitan Of The Head", yes, time to clean the bathroom.

TWO ON TWO BASKETBALL

I remember when in the Eighth grade, Doug and I had the same Physical Education class. Neither of us were much into sports, but we were tired of being beaten every single time by the same Two class mates. Armed with an afternoon and a basketball, we hit the junior high school basketball court with One thing on mind, work on a routine which will beat them. Passing and shooting were the main focus of the exercise, we almost looked like the World Famous Harlem Globe Trotters, just a little, not as well done. We had a working routine. Monday we hit the court with the not infamous, "Who's got the ball? Cheeto's got the ball.", ok, it wasn't original, but that and similar incantations gave us the edge. Even the real players didn't want to be paired against us (like they wanted to be before). We had a chance, boredom.

After Christopher was born, Doug would work all night on a security job and then drive us to Down Town Los Angles to take care of business. One early morning he knocked on the apartment door, "who is it?, I asked.

With my newborn son in my arms, I went to the door saying, "Come on Chris, it's Uncle Me."

From that moment on, Uncle Me was a title he wore with pride and often reflected on. He seemed to gleam when he remembered and a smile always beamed across his face.

One day as Doug and I were hanging out he told me about something which had happened on the job a few ways prior. "The was a shoving match starting and a customer came to me and said, your security, shouldn't you do something?", he leaned up against a will and folded his arms to illustrate his point, "I said, I feel secure."

Doug was a good friend. He was the god father of my brother. It was hard on that morning when we found out that he had died. I remember that one time him and my mom and my dad, they went to take my mom to the hospital to have my brother and they were so excited that they forgot my mom!!!!! That was so funny !!!! I really miss him, we all miss him.

One summer while in the Boy Scouts of America, Doug and I went on an weekend outing with the group. A fun filled trip to Fiesta Island; A public recreational area near San Diego, Ca. USA. The ground was comprised mostly of hard-as-clay dirt. As we soon figured out, the wide plastic tent pegs which we would normally use, wouldn't penetrate the rock hard ground. The quick acting Scout Masters rushed out and purchased metal pegs which worked just fine. This left a surplus of about Twelve plastic pegs. Let the fun begin! Who though it up might never be determined, but Doug and I were in the Baker Tent (wide tent made of a canvas type material high in the front and low in the back), someone would slide a peg down the top of the tent and we would send it flying with our sierra cups (a shallow light metal cup with a wire handle for cooking or eating/drinking) "PING". Along with the boating, swimming, other activities, this is One of my most fondest memories with my friend Doug.

Arcade Adventures

It was the early 80?s and Doug and I had just found out the coolest videogame out had arrived Gable House Bowl in Torrance - Gauntlet. So we scrounged together a few bucks and headed over to Gable House one Friday after school to see how far we could get in the game. There were a few people gathered around and playing Gauntlet so we put our quarters on the top machine that staked our place in ?line?. It took about 20 minutes for the players before us to finish their games and we decided we would put all our quarters in so that we wouldn?t have to wait for everyone else to take their turn again even though when other people were waiting we weren?t supposed to do that and only put in one each. But our goal was to get as far as we could in the game so when our turn came up we started dumping in quarters before hitting the start button. ?Hey you can?t do that!? several players that were waiting said. Doug calmly explained that this was better for them because instead of taking many turns, we would only take one turn apiece and afterwards they could then play the game undisturbed by us.

We had played about 30 minutes and had gotten to around level 12 or so, most of the kids waiting to play Gauntlet simply game up and decided to play other games or just leave but this one kid had been watching us the entire time and had not seen such a high level and was still eager to play. On this level Doug rushed ahead and I was trying to shoot as many ghosts that I could and was far behind. I think he was rushing ahead because he spotted a teleport and Doug loved to teleport, mostly because he would love to hear the ?BOIIIINNGG?.? noise which would reverberate from the extra-loud volume arcade machine throughout Gable House (He also loved shooting foods because we would crack up at all the ?Blue Wizard Shot the Food?). As anyone who has played gauntlet knows both players on two-player gauntlet are on the screen at the same time and if the players are separated they are each close to the opposite ends of the screen. Our characters were about the maximum distances apart on screen and Doug ran his blue wizard (he ALWAYS played the wizard) into a teleporter and ?BOIIINGG?? it went, but into some far corner of the screen which he couldn?t move from, I was also stuck because his character was opposite mine and I didn?t have room to move either. So here we were with lots of health left stuck and couldn?t move at all and were having a great time laughing like mad because of our predicament.

Well Doug being the clever person he was saw an opportunity and he talked to the one kid that had been watching us play. He told the kid that we had made it to a real far level and that we were willing to sell not one but both characters and all their items for only $5. Lo and behold the kid took out a $5 bill and handed it to Doug. Both of our eyes looked at the money, then we looked at each other and we couldn?t believe it. Doug had sold this kid both of our stuck players for $5! We slowly stepped away and the kid quickly got on the controls and started trying to move them back and forth. Doug and I both walked out of Gable House and once outside started laughing hysterically, we were laughing so hard we both fell to the ground and rolled on our backs and laughed for over what seemed like 10 minutes, I remember both of our sides were aching for laughing so hard. When our laughing finally started to die down it was starting to get dark and we decided to head home and come back again tomorrow. As we got up off the both of us decided to look inside before we go - the kid was still there, leaning against the side of the gauntlet machine still waiting for the players to get unstuck so he could play. That memory with Doug, one of many, was one that made us both laugh for years. It was always the simple things which made Doug laugh the most and although he is sorely missed his easy laugh and big grins will always be remembered!

Submitted by: Cybrecosmix