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

Bill Cady, The Early Years … by Bill Cady 56
the room was empty. Then we‟d steal all the money in the purses and get out to the
hallway from a “locked room”. Yeah, it was … but, not from the inside.
Two Lebanese brothers went to our school, John and Rick Adado. I believe their
sister was Sharon. Rick was in my grade, John a grade ahead of us. Rick was kinda fat.
It embarrassed him, so he wore sweaters, hoping he didn‟t look so fat. What he looked
like was a hot fat kid, but it‟s not my business, I guess. It got pretty bad in the summer,
with Rick still wearing sweaters. Shit, he stunk like hell at times. No big deal to me. I
just stayed upwind. Let the guy work on his problem. I had enough of my own.
John‟s parents owned a medium-size supermarket, half a mile away from
Grandma‟s house. Can you believe that? A Lebanese family owning a market? Of
course, there was no such thing back then as a 7-Eleven. Their choices were limited.
John used to swipe the family station wagon when his mother was working. It
was a nine passenger model, and we‟d fill all twelve seats, crowded as a circus car full of
clowns. John smoked, too, which we knew made him tough. He always said the cops
wouldn‟t think he was a kid because he was smoking.
Are you kidding me? With a nose that size? A Lebanese kid who shaved by fifth
grade? No way, man! Besides, when he was ten, John probably looked thirty. He
could‟ve bought beer without getting carded by second grade.
John was “cool” until later, when we got to high school and other kids had cars.
Suddenly, he wasn‟t as popular. Can you imagine that? Kids being disloyal? Hell, that‟s
how everyone is in California, but I never thought kids would act that way.
There was another guy, a ninth grader, named John Horaney. I met him again in
my early thirties at a poker game I regularly sat in. He was a pretty good lookin‟ guy,
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