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

Bill Cady, The Early Years … by Bill Cady 155
her very much. Saying anything bad about that woman, even as a joke, was tantamount
to suicide. Rex would go berserk. When he went berserk, someone went to a hospital.
Rex worked at Fisher Body, moving bumpers around. No joke. He‟d lift an
entire car bumper and put it on a frame. Eight, ten hours in a row, Rex would hoist those
damned things and not leave the job worn out. His strength was incredible.
However, Rex wasn‟t the sharpest knife in the drawer. He wasn‟t retarded, but it
was a near miss. A photo finish, so to speak. He could read at about a third grade level.
I‟m not sure I ever heard him use a word with more than two syllables, and I doubt
he‟d‟ve known what it meant if he used one.
Rex was just very sweet and lovable. To pretty much anybody.
One of his friends was a crippled kid named Danny. He‟d suffered from polio,
one of the last to be so afflicted before the vaccine. His right leg was badly deformed
and, of course, he walked funny. I think Danny was a year behind me in school, and he
went to Eastern. One night, Rex found out some guys beat Danny up and took all his
money. Four big seniors from Eastern.
Rex never said a word. He got in his car, a 1963 dark green Plymouth two-door
with “three on the tree”, and drove to the house where these kids were at the time. There
were no adults present, just those four boys. Maybe the parents were at work, or out
drinking. Who knows?
Rex parked in front of that house and walked up to the door. He didn‟t kick it by
the knob, which would slam the door open against a wall. Oh, no. Not Rex. Not when
he‟s pissed. He kicked the other side of the door! Where the hinges are located! The
whole damned thing crashed flat on the floor!
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