Where to begin...
from the time we were old enough to walk and talk, Linda and I were inseparable - she, the "pied piper", I, her loyal subject.
Cape Cod and the "cape coder cat" every summer with our families, Linda ordering and eating hotdogs daily for breakfast, I, doing the same even though I hated hotdogs! I ate them because she was my hero,my friend, my best friend, and I loved her and wanted to emulate everything she did
our summer organizing what was to hsve been a modest backyard circus, that turned out to be so large and successul (at 10 cents a head, we raised over $90.00), that the Hartford Courant not only covered it but also accepted our donation to Camp Courant, a summer experience for handicapped children.
guided tours every summer for the unsuspecting neighborhood kids through the England's condemned property that we had been consistently warned by our parents was forbidden ( okay, more than 50 years later, the cat's out of the bag, although I strongly suspect that we never fooled them anyway).
Aunt Lil's basement washing machine...we would "secretly" sneak down after she placed a load of clothes into the washer (it was a front loader), wait until the water level reached at least half way, and proceed to open the washer door and watch the clothes and all the water flood the basement. I don't remember how she finally got this game to stop, but, while it lasted, we loved it1
and how could I forget to mention Rose Tobler's backyard barbeque pit. We would again round up as many of the unsuspecting neighborhood kids while Linda would extemporaneously craft tall, scary tales that would frequently send even the most grounded kid home terrified and crying.
as we got older, boys came onto the scene and we would share many stories about our various escapades, including with Frank, whom we both dated at different times. And then there was babysitting for Ronnie, who, at a tender young age, was a beast who invariably tried, and often succeeded, at locking us in a closet.
for many years, after Linda got married, our lives took different paths and, sadly, we lost touch for a long time. In the not terribly distant past, I was working on an interesting
business project and had the wonderful fortune to contact Linda again, spending a few days with her and Lev at their home in Washington. It was like old times, I think for both of us - Linda and "rabies" once more.
It's impossible to imagine or believe that she's not still here with us. She was my first and dearest old friend, and I will never, ever forget her.
