The weather was frigid. I would look out the window at the the Schlicting Candy Store across the field. During the summer Cher would go into the grass behind the candy store and catch grasshoppers. One day she came running back. She tried to kiss one and it latched onto her lower lip and wouldn’t let go. Then she realized that could really bite . . hard! The whole thing with insects . . . . never my cup of tea. I secretly liked the idea of cooking them and coating them in chocolate. I never told Cher. She liked ‘em.
But, we were in Valley Stream, New York, not far from my fathers childhood home, going through a very cold winter. And, to top it off, I caught the measles. The obnoxious virus attacked just after Thanksgiving, and colored my Christmas season. Every day, against the express and forceful wishes of my mother, I sneaked out of bed, looked out the second-story window, and stood in my new pair of Keds.
From that lofty position, imagining my eventual formidable athletic prowess, I watched snowflakes float past the window and settle in the empty lot in front of our house.