HOW I GOT MY BICYCLE

As the World War II was just getting under way, there became a shortage of nearly everything, sugar was short, meat , coffee and many other thing were rationed. And as it happened so was bicycles. But I was to get one despite hell and high water. This was with the total approval of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, for in truth Mr. Leo Fay, postmaster, was in need of a "special delivery' person. But a bicycle was a necessity and therefore the people in charge of rationing were forced to allow me the privilege of having a new bike.

My new bike was delivered in a knockdown condition meaning someone with knowledge
needed to do some assembly work. That fell to Wade Funk, our neighbor, who came
over at lunch and put my bike together. I rode it to school to show it off.

In the delivery of "SPECIAL DELIVERY'" letters and small packages I had to find people I didn't know, or where they lived. In finding and locating the recipients of important mail I really learned the community and as some say where the bones were.
Not that there was any type of bad things happening, there was that mystique that is associated with minding ones own business.

Since I was paid by the post office guess what?? Right, I had to have a Social Security Number. Words I could spell but defining was another subject, for after all what was security to me anyway, I had security I had Nanna. In any event I did get one and I did one month (Christmas Time) earn enough to have a dollar deducted for deposit in some place unknown to anyone, oh well!This served me well for about a year and a half.

Since I came to realize that I could not abide a poke in the back at school, as I have spoken of this before, and I ended my relationship with Mt. Carmel and entered what had been described as everything but what it was, public school.

At this time I also ended my tenure as "special delivery boy". This was the beginning of what has turned out to be a sixty plus year friendship.

By the time high school came around I had been delivering The Albuquerque Journal for several years. It was odd how I got the paper route, for one thing the manager didn't think that I was big enough, strong enough or Lord only know what. But the paper boy that I was going to replace assured Mr. Schubert that he knew I could handle it, and that he had already taught me the route. So Mr. Schubert talked to my Nanna and came to agree with Nanna and Billy Caldwell that at twelve I was old enough. After all Billy was just a bit older (2 or 3 years I think).

So as the first two years of high school past I delivered 27 miles of paper route every day. My first big money job, and I owed it to Bill Caldwell. I think I delivered papers for a little over three years.