This past week Christina had a friend stay over with her
young son. He asked me if he could
play with my trains and I happily obliged. He was thankful for the time, but it is I who should be
thanking him. It seems these days I
don’t get to use them as much as I once did. Seeing his eyes light up brings me back to his age and the
days when I had all the time in the world.
I had just turned eight and in a few short months my Mom would be marrying my Step-Dad. We would be moving up the block but currently my Mom and I still lived with my
Grandparents. My Grandfather was a
tinkerer, and his garage and basement workshop were a young boys dream. I took to tools at an early age. It is somewhat surprising that now I am
not handy around the house. Well,
at least I can cook… I got that from my Grandfather too. I rarely needed to go to the local
hardware store. Everything I ever
needed was at my fingertips. We
were at that age when we would build our own go-karts. Race em? Heck No! We
were more the demolition derby type of kids. This meant our crafts where in constant need of repair.
It was a warm December that year so our outdoor activities
continued well into the fall. I sustained a huge
crack in the front end of “Ole #5” and she was useless to me without some
work. One more hit without repair
would be the end of her. The
garage had plenty of wood, tools and nails. Nails are nice, but screws are better. I would have to head to the basement
workshop to chose among the many.
What was this? The door was
locked from the inside…the door is NEVER locked. Locks in those days consisted of eyehooks and/or small
sliding bolts. It was just enough of
a deterrent to keep kids out.
Well, most kids.
It had been a few years earlier when I was five that I faced
a similar locked foe. Before my
Step Dad, my Mom had been dating a different guy. He had a daughter around my age and a big beautiful house in
which we were often invited to stay.
The first night we did so was a Friday and his daughter and I were
sound asleep early. Saturday
morning arrived and that meant only one thing for me at that age…CARTOONS! It was 7am and I tried to wake my sleepy "sister" to help me in my quest.
She had no interest, so I was on my own. The den contained the TV and was off of the kitchen, so breakfast would be my first
stop. I found a bowl, a spoon, cereal
and milk. I went to push the
swinging door that sat between the two rooms and was abruptly halted. The door worked fine last night, what
could be wrong. I slowly pushed
the door a second time and I could see the problem. Way above me and on the other side was a locked eyehook. Now the master bedroom was located on
the other side of the den. Waking
the adults would not be a good option anyway. I thought for a moment and then sprung into action. I grabbed a butter knife from the draw
and slid a chair next to the door.
On my tippy toes I was just able to slide the knife through the crack
and lift the eyehook. It was
cartoon time!
Around 9am my Mom and her boyfriend emerged from the
bedroom. He stared in disbelief. There I was watching my cartoons eating
my chocolate frosted sugar bombs…all I was missing was Hobbes. He turned to my Mom, “How did he get in
here, I locked the door.” My Mom
just responded that something as simple as that would not thwart her son.
Now the door to the basement workshop would be a little
tougher. It would have the eyehook
and a small dead bolt. The door
did not sit tightly in the frame so I could see the task ahead. I retrieved some needle nose pliers and
a screwdriver. I squeezed the
pliers through the opening and twisted the dead bolt around. I was then able to ever so slightly
maneuver it across. Slowly but
surely the end of the bolt passed the open slit. The eyehook would be just a formality. I entered the room and proceeded to go
through every container, draw and anything that looked like it might be hiding
the necessary screws. Once I had what I needed I was ready to depart. For some reason I turned around the opposite way from the
door…and that is when I saw it.
There it was…a prebuilt 4ft x 6ft train set. My eyes widened to take it all in. The track was pristine. The ballast glistening alongside. The green grass so real you could almost
smell it. The light towers rose
above the train yard below. A
control panel with a dual transformer and so many track switches they seemed to
run out of numbers. Christmas was
only a few short weeks away and I knew this was mine.
There are times in your life that stick with you
forever. As you look back to that
moment, the excitement and joy immediately return to you. As I now watched the young boy take control
of my train set, I could see that familiar look in his eyes.
At least I had already unlocked the door for him.
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