Chapter 4 FictionPress - No Longer Memories - Sundays in the Park - 10/29/04

Spring wouldn't officially begin until our First visit to the Park. It has a small lake, or some would describe it as a large pond, with real ducks, not just those white seemingly domesticated ducks but also those that from time to time are on their seasonal jaunts. I would feed them bits of bread, I would bring with me.

I even fished or more to the point, bothered the "CRAW" fish. They lived under the rocks in the shallows of the stream leading to the "Lake". I never harmed them, I was only amazed at how they would swim backward when the rocks they were under, were disturbed.

Crossing a small bridge over the stream, I was soon playing on the swings, the teeter- totter and the kid powered merry go-rounds. Later a bathing area was installed, that's the only way to describe it, it wasn't a swimming pool. It was a tiled area with water forced into the air at an angle from a pipe, where a swarm of kids in their bathing suites or cutoffs would gather to cool off after a hard time of play, and from the summer time heat.

Not a bad life so , "Beav"!

We would have lunch from a panel truck. It was always parked over by the baseball field just before the granite steps that led to the train stop where commuters would wait for trains that took them to all points north, to the really BIG cities, Newark and New York. These were families that, for all the good and wholesome reasons of the times, lived in, raised their families and had their children educated in the nurturing environment that was Passaic. That's where I lived and that's what I would like you to remember.

The hotdogs were "SABBERET", I never thought I would ever say or write the following phrase, and here it goes... "and in those days"., "they were the best of hotdogs then the worst", after "we" discovered "Rutt's Hut", the soft drink was a bottled coke the 8 oz., I think, and the bag of chips were "Wise", beyond my years, with an Owls' eye looking at me. I would get ice cream, from the Ice Cream trucks that were allowed to drive around the park's miniature streets. "Mr. Frosty" sold the soft serve with a choice of toppings, mine was usually chocolate sprinkles and the "Good Humor Man" had every frozen treat ever made to satisfy the young and old, I liked the Strawberry short cake. These men wore heavily starched white uniforms, with caps and we were thoroughly impressed. If I could have looked into the future, at these times, I would have seen that uniforms were to play a major roll in my future.

I would run through the "Rose Garden" which had every variety of Rose imaginable where Mother would stop and sit on the benches that were strategically positioned for the best observations. The willow tree was of interest, it was "Living Large", it meant something else, overbearing with a large trunk and it sat in the middle of everything.

The park had an activity center where other Passaicites would gather to participate in whatever activities were being offered. I wasn't really interested in any of that, I liked going to the park for what was fun to me, so I can't really remember what all the excitement was about. Don't be afraid at a loss of memory here, it just wasn't important to "ME".

On the other side of this activity center was the public restrooms, that is when, I think they were cleaned for the last time. A water fountain was made of what looked like pebbles pressed into mortar or cement and was a stop just before the CLEAN rest rooms. just had to get one more out! I would skip rocks across the water and was fascinated by the falls where, after the water fell it would continue on its' journey that took it under Passaic Avenue.

I would always look forward to the outings to "Passaic Park", I grew to admire the homes located around the park. I would find out later, that one of my Uncles, on Mother's side of the family, owns and operated his own landscaping business. Imagine that, a Puerto Rican businessman in Passaic, and in those days! .and still around!

"who could have imagined!"

Some of his contracts were with the owners of some of these homes. I worked with him for one summer, and I mean just ONE summer, I had never worked that hard in my short life, and it wasn't for me. I was "going to be educated no matter what" as Mother would repeatedly say, implanting a subliminal suggestion in the mind that took God!

"Times they were a chang'n." .deep sighs.

As my brother and I were growing older and inevitably further apart, we somehow had to stop going to the park as a family. Everything was changing and life wasn't to be a slow process any longer. It seemed as if someone had input a command sequence that began to execute the next program set. We were propelled into the future in warp-speed. Strangely enough everyone around us was aware of the change. Society, apparently strapped in, held on and we all closed our eyes for the roughest ride of our lives. I have to think that some of us may have had our eyes open and experience "Brain Drain" from looking directly into the light.

There were times, before I left Passaic, as if drawn, when I would go to the park to "remember and relive" those times, while they were still fresh. A premonition that memory was being over written or .

The City Officials and the citizenry agreed to have an amphitheater built where some fine arts performances and "Community" activities took place. It was never the same as when the activities were "THE" way of life. A band, made up of a group of some of my friends in '73 played a "gig" . The times were good, it was a "happening" and the Sundays in the park were OVER! The journey was too short and I miss it.