Bill and Dick
Bill and Dick lived with their mother and father and their Aunt Peggy in Nana Burns’ home on Abbotsford Lane in Germantown, Philadelphia.
Every Sunday the aunties arrived at Nana’s house to clean. Even though some had homes of their own, they always made time for their mother and helped her whenever they could.
Bill was in the upstairs bathroom scrubbing the floorboards on his hands and knees with a wet, cold rag. A young man of 10 years, he had very dark brown hair and eyes and across his cheeks and nose a smattering of freckles. His hands were red from the lye soap and cold water and he was a little tired and cranky. All he could think about was the first fishing trip of the season with his father, Uncle Milt and his brother Dick next weekend.
Aunt Gertrude was very stern with the boys when it came to their chores, but an old softie when it came to feeding them. By far the best baker in the family, the boys would stop by her house on their way home from school for fresh baked cookies or cake and a big glass of milk. Every Christmas she would fill potato chip tins with her homemade cookies and send them out to all her family.
Today, however, Aunt Gertrude noticed Bill was not making a worthy effort in cleaning the bathroom.
“Put your back into it!” she ordered from across the hallway, where she was mopping.
Bill, feeling grouchy mimicked, “put your back into it” in a tiny, whiny voice.
He was smirking as he looked up to see her reaction when a wet rag landed hard on his face. Aunt Gertrude had a powerful arm and that rag landed in a wet splat right across his face. It was cold and it hurt.
“That’ll teach you for smarting off at your Aunt!” and with that she turned her attention to dusting.
Bill dried off his face and finished his chores in silence not wishing to incur any more of Aunt Gertrude’s wrath and then went looking for Dick. Dick had been busy helping his mother by stoking the furnace and then mopping the kitchen. Bill peaked in through the kitchen door and caught Dick’s eye. They nodded to each other. Dick quickly finished up and met Bill across the street in the park.
It was a damp overcast spring day, but the weather had recently turned a tad bit warmer which only made them more anxious to get outdoors and fish. They sat on a park bench and began discussing their outing the following weekend.
“Uncle Milt says we’ll have to get the canoe out of storage and work on it a little before we put it in the water.” Bill wanted to set Dick’s expectations straight — they’d have to earn the privilege of the first fishing trip on the Wissahickon by helping with the canoe.
“I think I’ll take out my rod and reel and clean them this afternoon. I don’t want to leave it ’til Saturday morning because we’ll probably leave real early.” Dick wanted to make sure his equipment was in good working order and didn’t want any surprises on the big day. Dick was 2 years his brother’s junior, a skinny kid with wavy brown hair and a true devoted partner in crime with his older brother Bill.
As they continued discussing plans for the big day they also began reminiscing of previous expeditions.
The Philadelphia Canoe Club was a long-standing family tradition with many family stories centered around the club and creek. In fact, it was Uncle Milt and their father, who after a day of merriment, inadvertently paddled their canoe over the Magargee Dam. While onlookers were shocked, the canoeists surfaced laughing heartily.
Bill and Dick agreed they would head to the basement and get their equipment ready before dinner. They didn’t want to miss their favorite Sunday night radio shows and in a rare reprieve from the nuns, neither had homework to prepare for school the next day.
While Bill and Dick were inspecting their fishing gear in the basement, much activity was taking place in the kitchen, for Sunday suppers were an important meal, usually some type of a roast and always with aunts and uncles in attendance. Today was no exception and the smells coming from the kitchen were a little distracting.
When their mother called them to supper they bounded upstairs and each vied for an opportunity to sit next to Uncle Milt and discuss the upcoming trip.
