Some of these memories are from my husband’s childhood but I heard about them so often that I feel like I lived them myself. One was about the time when he and his friend, Bobby Schlosesser were teenagers and they needed money to buy something but failed to come up with any so they hatched a plan that I would have thought would have been impossible to complete. There was a piece of furniture in Bobby’s living room that the two of  them decided that the family could do without so they decided to hock it. They didn’t even ask Bobby’s mother if she’d go along with that idea as they were sure she wouldn’t. They would have to figure out a way to get it out of the apartment without her knowing it.

Every day, Bobby’s mother would go to the window to see what was going on down in the street.  Before the chosen event they tied a rope around one leg of the dresser and then positioned themselves in the hallway outside of the apartment. Bobby’s mother was so engrossed with the street activities that she didn’t even notice the noise that occurred as the furniture was dragged to the door and then into the hallway. If they had actually entered the room, they felt she probably would have noticed that. I do know that they somehow got that furniture to a hock shop but I never learned what they bought with the money or if they ever retrieved the dresser. I also know that it made a priceless story to be told over the years. 

There was more funny stuff that I heard about. One was when they were selling tickets on a submarine. When they were asked what one could do with a submarine in case they were the lucky winners, it was suggested that they could sell it to the Russians as they were always looking for things like that. Somehow they actually got some people to take part in their nonsense  so sold them a few tickets. I guess it was a conversation piece.  

Another event that I heard about was when they had a wild party in one of their apartments and the neighbors called the police because they couldn’t sleep. What this rowdy bunch did was exit through a window and then find a ladder to use to reenter. They wouldn’t want to miss a good party.  

My husband, Jim thought it was ironic that when Bobby played hooky, he would go to the library.      

Believe it or not, all of Bobby’s wives declared him a good husband and father.  He had three wives, none due to divorce. He was widowed three times. When he was ready to start dating again, the gang was at the Jersey shore along with him. He began talking to a very attractive woman. Bobby needed some help and he approached my husband, “Jamsey will you please tell this woman that I am not married.”

True to form, his old friend replied, “I’m not going to lie for you, Bobby.” I have to admit I decided to join in the fun. I told Bobby that his kids were in the car and starting to complain so we would have to leave. The woman wound up believing Bobby and not us. Bobby and this woman dated  for awhile but then Bobby wanted to break it off because they lived too far apart. He was wondering how to go about  it. He decided to answer the phone with a very high voice the next time she called. He demonstrated the voice to me to see if it was effective. I thought it was hilarious. As it turned out, the next time the woman called, she said she liked him but she thought they lived too far apart to continue dating…case closed.