BILL CADY Word Count: 149,227 - At My Friend's Place

Bill Cady, The Early Years … by Bill Cady 154
liquor in today‟s dollars, then cart it out to the cars. Keeping the change, plus the fee, I‟d
drink free all weekend and still have money left.
I didn‟t stop there. I started manufacturing ID sets for other kids, the same way I
did mine. I charged fifty bucks a set. Keep in mind, gasoline was selling at 18¢ per
gallon then, so it was a lot of money. I did that for a while, but quit after the second time
I was visited by the U.S. Attorney‟s office out of Grand Rapids. I liked making money
by selling ID, but not enough to go to a federal prison. They were all over the draft
dodgers by that point, so making a false draft card was a serious offence.
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Someone very important in my life was a man named Rex Riddle. He was four
“est”” things to me. He was the nicest, kindest, and gentlest man I‟ve ever known. He
was also the biggest. Six-nine, three-hundred twenty-five pounds, that was Rex.
He was the “baby” of a family of six boys, although he was the biggest of them
all. The “runt” in that group, as I understand it, was six-two. Rex was part white, part
black, and part Native American, on his mother‟s side. In all the years I knew him, I
never once heard Rex swear, or use a dirty word. No vulgarity of any kind. He‟d say,
“Oh, gosh!”, or, “My, my”, “Golly!” He never used bad words for any reason. Only two
things I was aware of could get him angry.
However, when he did get angry, any man I‟ve ever met would pray he wasn‟t the
reason Rex got pissed off. Rex would be infuriated if anyone hurt a friend of his. No
matter why the other guy was doing it, even if he was “entitled” by our code, Rex
wouldn‟t allow it. He‟d always step in and finish it for his friend.
The other thing was his mother. She died when he was a teenager, and he loved
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