30 Elm Street

 

“What happened to the other 2 points?” Sadly,  I didn’t learn of this bicycle

 

transformation  until after his death. I  believe he never told me as he didn’t want to spoil

 

the magical memory of my tenth Christmas.

 

Recently, the Southampton Press had an ad for a Tag Sale at30   Elm Street. The

 

present occupants were moving, the house had been sold. As I walked through, it seemed

 

strange;  much smaller than I remembered., by about a third. There was a swampy,

 

untended  swimming pool in the side yard, when we lived there we had the big garden

 

and the henhouse.  And the banister on the stairway to the second floor was loose and

 

wobbly, all the rooms looked shabby and in need of paint.  My Dad would have had a fit;

 

he kept everything so pristine and functional.  When I dream about this childhood home,

 

the rooms are as big as my memory, everything is clean and fresh, my parents are young

 

and healthy, and life is just waiting for us! Being in the house again at 30 Elm Street after

 

more than sixty years made me remember all  that happened there–good stuff and sad–

 

but especially my Christmas bicycle.