I worked in the same firehouse for 6 years. My dad would come up from Florida 2 or 3
times a year and stay with my sister. Since I had come with the house, he got to see
both of us. I think Mom would send him
up to NY to get him out of her hair. She
worked all day and he was home alone all day.
My Dad would come to the firehouse when I was working day shift. And when I worked a night shift he came and
stayed untilabout 10 PM and then would go home. The first day he came to the firehouse he
asked if they played cards. Of course
they did. My dad was a great pinochle
player. The officers and senior men
always played. They loved to have him
come and play even though he beat them most of the time. I think the fact that he brought beer with
him also helped.
I was on the job about a year and a half and
there was a fellow I went to high school with who was a firefighter. He was on about 3 years and worked on the
other side of down (rough side). He
called me and asked if I was going to the firefighters convention at
Grossingers in the Catskills. I told him
I was thinking about it. He said the
rate for the convention was 2 to a room - let’s share a room. It was a long weekend convention so we decided
to take the rest of the week off and head to the Jersey shore afterwards. We had a blast. On the way home I told him I was living with
my sister and I wanted to find an apartment.
He said that he still lived at home with his parents and was looking for
an apartment, too. We found an apartment
near my firehouse. It was in an 8 story
brick building – the owner owned 2 or 3 other buildings and thought it would be
great to have firemen as tenants. He had
a 2 bedroom apt. on the 1st floor – we took it.
We didn’t have much furniture but Bob’s Mom
gave us lots of stuff. I think she was
glad to get him out of her house and on his own. We drew straws to see who got the BR without a
window. He drew the windowless room but,
in the long run, it worked out great for him.
My BR window and the kitchen window faced south. The south side of our building faced a large
parking lot. Half belonged to our
building and half belonged to the 10 story apt. building next door. Bob and I worked opposite shifts and we were
home together about once a week. There
were 2 girls who lived in the next building on the 5th or 6th
floor. I think they looked out their
window and when we came home, they would come over and ask if we wanted to come
over for dinner, go out for a drink, or go to the movies. In the winter, when we got home about 6:30 it
was dark. When we turned on the kitchen
lights, they would show up at our window or call us on the phone. In those days, we had to wear our fire
uniforms back and forth to the firehouse.
I was telling Bob that in the mornings, I laid out my civilian clothes
on my bed and when I got home I had to sneak into the apt without turning on
the lights. I put my uniform on the bed,
put on my civilian clothes, and snuck out of the building. He laughed and said he could turn on the
light in his room because it didn’t have a window but he had to sneak out of
the building too. We went to the apt.
owner and told him about the girls and that we needed another apt. He had one
in a different building. It was newer
and bigger and more $ but we took it.
Before we moved out, Bob started dating a girl who had a big
Doberman. We had parquet wood flooring
down the hall to the bathroom. I would
come home and see water stains on the wood floor. I would wax the floor and 2 days later the
floor would be stained again (sounds like the odd couple). I then found out this dog would come over,
drink out of the toilet, and dribble down the hall. Bob was babysitting this big dog.
One Sunday afternoon, we decided to go to the
movies. Bob had just bought a brand new
Ford Mustang – candy-apple red with white seats. We took the dog with us (WHY???) – we left him
in the car (another WHY???) and went to the movie. When we came out, I walked up to the
passenger side of the car and started laughing.
Bob looked in the car, but he didn’t laugh. The dog had eaten all the leather and
stuffing off the passenger seat. I guess he was mad we didn't bring him any popcorn. I had
to sit on the wire springs for the ride home.
That was the last time I saw that dog or his mistress.
When I was working at Western Electric, I went
back to college at night. I enrolled at
Manhattan College School of Business.
The bosses at Western Electric said that if I got a C or better in any
course in business admin that Manhattan College offered, they would pay the
tuition and the cost of the books. When
I became a firefighter, I decided to continue my education. Most firefighters had a second job (called a
B job) that they did on their off time.
They jumped at the chance to work my night shifts and I would work their
day shifts so they could work their B jobs and make more money. I didn’t know if I was going to like being a
firefighter. After 3 years on the job, I
decided that I loved it
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