Paul's House on Ford Drive
Paul and I met at Cub Scouts, when we were 9 years old. We became friends right away and are still friends to this day. In those early years, we used to stay all night at each others' houses.
My Family Home on Moundale Drive
When Paul would stay over at my house on Friday nights, we looked forward to walking to downtown Ferguson on Saturday morning.
Pillow Fight
In the evening, we would go down into the basement, take the cushions off the chair and have a pillow fight. One of the cushions had a board in the bottom and proved to be a formidable weapon. We took turns wielding that cushion. On Saturday morning, we would walk to downtown Ferguson.
Sonderegger's Bakery
On our way we would stop at Sonderegger's Bakery. We rarely bought anything, but we enjoyed looking at all the bakery items and smelling the heavenly aroma coming through the screen door.
Cherry Cokes at the Drug Store
Our next stop was Quillman's drug store, where we each got a cherry coke. Paul always asked for an extra squirt of cherry syrup. Sometimes we bought a comic book. Mr. Quillman was nice, but strict. He didn't allow kids to look through the comic books. If you pulled one off the rack, you had to buy it. He also did not tolerate spinning around on the stools. We obeyed the rules and enjoyed our cherry cokes.
The Five and Dime
Across the street from Quillman's Drug Store was the Ben Franklin 5&10. We spent our allowance there on toy cars and baseball cards or some other small items that caught our interest.
The Savoy Theater
When we got a little older one of our parents would drive us down to the local movie theater and then pick us up when it was over. I remember seeing "The Blob", one of Steve McQueen's first movies. I made the mistake of buying fudge at the candy counter and when the Blob came on the screen, I had to go outside and throw-up.
The Snack Bar
At January-Wabash Park, we bought candy bars at the snack bar. Paul usually got a Snickers and I got a Heath bar.
The Admiral
For a school outing, we spent the day with our classmates sailing the Mississippi river on the Admiral, doing the Hokey Pokey and playing the pinball machines.
The Bullet
When we were young teens, Paul and I went to the amusement park for the day. The first ride we went on was the Bullet. It rotated vertically, horizontally and side to side. When we got in, Paul's door didn't close all the way. He tried to tell the operator, but it was too late. We started whipping around and all the coins in Paul's pocket fell out and flew around in the air, finally dropping out of the compartment altogether and to the ground below. When it started turning side to side, Paul hung on tight so as not to fall out of the partially open door. We survived and were both relieved when the ride was over. That was our only ride of the day.