1965 People who Need Rocks

When I was going to Millburn High School in the spring of 1965, we had the following essay question on our 
final English exam.  "Explain why this song is true", with the lyrics of the song "People".  
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People

People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world, 
We're children, needing other children
And yet letting our grown-up pride
Hide all the need inside, 
Acting more like children
Than children.

Lovers are very special people, 
They're the luckiest people
In the world.
With one person, one very special person
A feeling deep in your soul
Says you were half, 
Now you're whole.
No more hunger and thirst

But first be a person
Who needs people.
People who need people
Are the luckiest people
In the world!  
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I was appalled and immediately I wrote my rebuttal.  In it I used the song "I Am A Rock". 

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I Am A Rock
A winter's day
In a deep and dark
December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I've built walls,
A fortress steep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don't talk of love,
Well I've heard the words before;
It's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.
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I wrote almost twice the minimum number of words required.  I used examples of how many times I had moved as a child, leaving my friends behind, and how I learned early on that it was much better not to need people.  

When I got my final exam back, I had an A- on it (because I didn't really follow the instructions per se) and my parents got a note suggesting maybe I needed counseling.  LOL

Turns out they were right.  I have, and apparently have always had, attachment disorder, avoidant type.  I really am a rock.

1963 Mafia and Formula I

A great deal of my childhood (and adulthood for that matter) was spent in a dentist's chair.

When we lived in Short Hills, NJ, My mother's friend Margot Cody recommended a dentist to my parents.  His name was Ted and his wife was British.  He lived in Jersey City, NJ, in a brownstone they were renovating.  They were able to buy it very cheaply with a restoration grant.  Ted was a really interesting guy.  He had a Formula 1 car that he wasn't street legal.  He kept it in a garage behind the brownstone and would start it up and sit in it.  

Formula I

One day he told me that he had another patient about my age, who told him all kinds of stories about her family.  He said just the other day she had told him about her grandparents' back yard, that it was full of crazy statues.  I never thought much of it, until a few years later, when a big shot in La Cosa Nostra (the Mafia) was arrested.  On the news, they showed him leaving his house and as an interesting tidbit showed his back yard.  It was full of statues.  

I very often arrived at Ted's drunk.  My teeth were in pretty bad shape and I had toothaches a lot.  My dad would give me the little bottles of Scotch he took off the airplanes every time he flew and I would take a slug of Scotch and hold it in my cheek to numb the tooth.  Usually I ended up swallowing it, especially if we were in the car on the way to Jersey City.  Ted thought it was hysterical (I was only 14).

The worst part of going to Ted was that my mother and I always stopped on the way home to have lunch.  Well, she had lunch.  I couldn't eat because my mouth was numb (and I had a hangover).  That always seemed particularly cruel.

1064 Ladies and Gentlemen...

By the time the Beatles hit the TV in the US, I already knew all about them.  I was living in Short Hills, NJ, and I had a friend, Patty, who had just returned from boarding school in England.  Over the previous couple of years, when she came home for the summers, all she talked about was the Beatles.  She brought back a bunch of official Beatles fan club magazines, which I read from cover to cover, and she had all of the Beatles records.  So by the time they were on Ed Sullivan, I was pretty familiar with them.  I had never seen them perform though.

So on February 9, 1964, just like everyone else in the country, I was glued to the TV to watch then on the Ed Sullivan Show.  My dad thought they were downright ridiculous, but my mother thought they were cute, especially John.  I was not that impressed, because by then, I had discovered the Rolling Stones.

1964 My First TV Dinner

When we lived in Short Hills, NJ, my parents had some friends, Ruby and Albert, whom they had known in France.  I can't remember their last name.  They had 2 children, Albert Jr and Patty.  What I remember most about them was their house, which was a mansion and totally overblown.  Ruby was overblown.  She wore tight dresses of flowered print.  She was dominating and loud.  She had a bit of a Spanish accent (she was from South America).  Albert, on the other hand, was a quiet little mustached man.  Their son Albert (Albertito) has the distinction of telling me about "the drinking man's diet" (which I went on some years later, it's actually the Adkins diet).  He was florid and loud.  He was probably around 20 or 21.  

Patty was about my age (16 or 17) and obnoxious, which was why she was in boarding school in England.  She and I never got along at all, except when we talked about bands.  I couldn't stand her.  When she returned from boarding school every summer, we all went over to Ruby and Albert's house in Westfield for dinner.  

What I remember best was that we sat in the kitchen and ate TV dinners.  It was my first experience with TV dinners.  Yes, they were Swanson.  I think the one I remember best was the meat loaf one.  I just never understand why we were stuck with TV dinners when the adults had lavish, multi-course meals in the dining room.  

That first TV dinner was a life-changing event for my sister and me.  After that, we kept asking my mother to buy them and she never would.

1963 Cleeter

I had a red furball with eyes and feet named Cleeter, who watched the games with me.  Cleeter was one of those furry round things with feet, and he was red.  He was named after New York Yankees 3rd baseman, Clete Boyer, #6.  I had met Clete at an event and apparently he asked me to send him a picture of Cleeter (I didn't remember the conversation as I was in shock at the time).  I had been writing stories about Cleeter and his adventures on the road with the Yankees, etc.  I put all the drawings and stories in a packet and sent them to Clete.  

The red one looks like Cleeter

A few weeks later, my mother and I went to a Yankees game, which we did fairly often, and we were standing outside waiting for the players to go in.  Clete went by with a couple of other players (Moose Skowron, Phil Linz, Whitey Ford, and a couple of others, I can't remember who).  Clete saw me and yelled “I got the stories about Cleeter!".  Moose yelled "long live Cleeter!".  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  From that time on, I sent them on a regular basis for probably 2 seasons until we moved to Paris.  It was awesome!

1963 Clete Boyer, NY Yankees

In 1963, we lived in Short Hills, NJ, and my baseball hero was Clete Boyer, who played 3rd base for the Yankees; his brother Ken was the All Star 3rd baseman for the Cardinals and his brother Cloyd was a major league pitcher.  I loved Clete the best of all the Yankees.  My aunt Audrey would say he was 'tall, dark, and schmutzy‘.  My mother had a crush on Bobby Richardson (he had beautiful blue eyes) who played 2nd, and my sister had a crush on Joe Pepitone (the young Italian stud) who played 1st - we loved our Yankee infield, although no one seemed to have a crush on the shortstop, Tony Kubek.  

One night in 1962 when I was 14 I had gotten undressed and was doing my homework when my mother suddenly came and told me I had to get dressed quick!  She had just found out that Clete Boyer was at a local restaurant in Millburn called the Chantecleer giving a presentation for some local Little League teams.  I never got dressed so fast in my life!  While I was getting dressed, she called the Chantecleer to make sure they would let us in.  I guess when she told them she had a 14-year-old daughter who was a total baseball fan, Yankee fan, and Clete Boyer freak on her hands, they told her to bring me down right away

We got to the Chantecleer and someone in a fancy tuxedo let us in , then led us into a big ballroom where there were probably 100 Little League players, their parents, coaches, etc.; and on the stage, there he was!  He was standing with a couple of other men almost as though he was waiting for us,  He had his pinstriped uniform on, #6!  I was speechless.  He was so handsome I didn’t know what to think.  He came towards me with a big smile and said  “Hi I'm Clete, what's your name?”  And I swear all I could say was “f-f-f-f-f…” Finally my mother took pity on me and said “Her name is Fay“.  I was in shock, all I could do was stare at him!

When I got home that night I was appalled that I remembered almost nothing of the encounter.  Fortunately, my mother realized I had been in shock and paid close attention to everything so she could tell me about it later.  I guess he talked to me quite a bit, asking how long I had been a Yankee fan, etc.

Also, she had told Clete about Cleeter who watched the games with me, and Clete apparently asked me to send him a picture of Cleeter.

I only have a vague memory of that night; although I still remember the dress I was wearing, light blue with pictures of sailing ships on it. (I hated that dress).  I was so shy at that age, with no social graces at all and very few friends.  That episode with Clete Boyer was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life and my family never let me forget it!  “What's your name?"  "f-f-f-f-f".  My whole family started calling me "fff".  I will never live it down.  But at the same time, it was one of the best moments of my life too.