The Bruckers

I am participating in #SOL22. This is Day 18. Thanks to twowritingteachers team for providing this space to write, share, and grow.

Bobby Brucker was tall and skinny and best of all, he loved trains. His dad had set up an entire village in the finished basement, complete with tracks and bridges and houses and even a post office. Bobby had controls that allowed him to make the train’s whistle blow or turn on the headlight or even change tracks. He wouldn’t let me operate the controls or wear his conductor’s hat, but he was kind enough to let me watch whenever I wanted.

The Bruckers lived in the next twin, one house removed. Many kids filled our block of 1200 Durham Street. A long driveway separated our backyards from the houses on the 1200 block of Sydney Street. We only had to walk or ride our bikes a half block down Woolston Avenue to use the big macadam playground behind Leeds’ Junior High School and about five blocks to picnic at the Aggie, the agricultural center on Ivy Road that had a pond and lots of ducks.

Now, Lois Brucker was about three years older than Bobby and me. She had a gift for storytelling. Lots of kids (including me) would gather on the stoop at 1211 Durham Street on summer evenings to hear her spin a tale. My favorite story was about the three paths in the woods and the girl and boy who were lost one dark night and had to choose which path to take. She described what the paths looked like and let us choose. Then she continued her story. We chose a different path each night, and Lois easily entertained us with a different tale. She played the guitar and sang songs, too, like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Four Strong Winds.”

Mr. Brucker had an appliance store right next to Cakemasters bakery on Wadsworth Avenue. We bought our transistor radios there and our first color television. He was a nice man with a smile that was genuine. I think he liked his job and he liked people. He was what people call self-employed, and he was good at it, not like my dad who really should have had a boss to tell him what needed to be done.

I remember Mrs. Brucker sent Bobby over to our house to invite me to dinner. Mom gave her permission. I was so excited! I loved Bobby and Lois, and now I was going to have dinner at their house on a Friday night. When a huge bowl of pasta was placed on the table with homemade meatballs and a wonderful tomato sauce, I was a little worried. We had never had spaghetti, and I was completely baffled about how to eat the long noodles dripping in sauce. I watched Lois and Bobby artfully twirl their noodles on their fork, using a spoon as their platform. I tried to imitate them, but my noodles kept slipping off the fork before I could get them into my mouth. Finally, Mr. Brucker spoke. “I don’t want to splash sauce on my white shirt. I think I’ll use my knife to cut the spaghetti into smaller pieces that will fit on my spoon.”

And that’s exactly what he did. I did the same, and voila! Success at last! Mr. Brucker looked at me and winked. I smiled and blushed. I was grateful.