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"East Side 'Tough Guys'" posted April 26, 2004 at 11:33 PM

When I was growing up, we East Side boys were known for our loyalty to one another, and we were also known as 'tough guys.'

One warm summer day, when we were teenagers, my best pal Joe and I offered to babysit my two nieces, so that my sister Martha could run a few afternoon errands. Motivation for the offer to babysit was the fact that my sister's house had a television set (remember, we're talking the early fifties), and neither one of our homes had one. As soon as Martha left, we turned on the TV, and left the two little nieces to their own devices, in the kitchen.

All of a sudden, we hear screams from the girls! It seems a mouse ran across the kitchen floor and behind the refrigerator. Diane and Linda were screaming non-stop, so we lifted them up onto the kitchen table, where they would be safe from the 'rat' (Joe's description). The 'tough guys' Joe and I, were arguing about who would shove the broom along side the refrigerator, and who would try to pound the poor mouse, if it ran out, with a shoe. Suddenly, the mouse ran out, causing both of us to jump back, and setting off new screams from the girls! Now the mouse was behind the stove. The brave saviors of little girls decided to pull the stove away from the wall, but when we did, the mouse was gone.

Martha walked in, to find her girls standing on the kitchen table, chairs shoved to the side, her stove in the middle of the room, and two very excited babysitters, never so happy to see an adult. We never caught the mouse, and we were never asked to babysit again!


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