TV taught me that Ovaltine was the perfect food.
My Real Memoir
My First “Normal” Friend
I’ve never been normal in any rational sense of the word. But Stevie was. Heck, he had red hair and freckles. Which was as “All-American” as you could get back then. How Irish-Scottish-Viking ancestry came to be the quintessentially All-American look, I don’t know. But Stevie’s whole family had it. They were right out of an Ovaltine ad, and since Ovaltine (“fortified” chocolate milk) was the perfect food, I thought they were perfect.
Unlike my mom, Stevie’s mom stayed at home all day, gleefully mopping, dusting, making fudge and greeting her husband at the door with a martini and a tall glass of Ovaltine. And Stevie’s dad? He was a Cub Scout leader. I mean, heck, how All-American can you get?
When the fudge ran out, Stevie and I would circle the block looking for adventure. But adventure was in short supply on our block. Until one day we discovered a mysterious change at…
The House on the Corner
There were no cars, and the weeds had staged a major coup. There was a half-open window, so we peered inside. There, on the only remaining piece of furniture, a broken-down dinette table with a few rickety chairs, was a huge pile of wallets. This demanded investigation! So we climbed in through the window. Who would buy a hundred wallets, and then dump their innards on a dumpy dinette set? There were cards with the names of stores on them, and thousands of wallet photos. Mostly boring stuff. But the wallets were neato! Suddenly, we heard a car pulling up outside. So we grabbed as many billfolds as we could fold into our t-shirts, climbed out the window, and skedaddled! (Whatever happened to “skedaddling?”)
Back at Stevie’s house, we played pretend with the wallets — until Stevie’s mom spotted us. And then suddenly, just like that, we were in “so much trouble!” Why? Heck, nobody wanted them! Mommandad told me later that a group of “dangerous” crooks (as opposed to the milquetoast type) had been meeting at that house.
Stevie and I never told our parents about the car we’d heard pulling up.
After the Infamous Empty House Incident
…we were grounded. So we made up new games. Including one that Stevie invented, involving Stevie’s German Shepherd “Rinty” running full speed at me over-and-over again. Which was neato! Until the completely out-of-control Rinty collided with my face at 100 miles-per-hour, resulting in my first of several trips to the hospital.
Following the Infamous Dog Collision Incident, Mommandad refused to let me visit Stevie’s house anymore. We still spent school recesses together, but our best buddy status started to fade. Still, I’ll never forget…
My All-American friend.
To read My Real Memoir from the start, click here. To read the next episode, click here.
My “all American” friend was always getting me in trouble, too.
Or maybe I was getting him into trouble….
Or maybe…..
we were co-conspirators. 😁
I’m guessing the latter, Scott. ;>)
Ovaltine sounds like Ovomaltine that we drink in Switzerland; we also call it just “Ovo” (for short) or “Ovi” (kindly). And the slogan for Ovomaltine is: “mit Ovi kasch es nid besser – aber länger” meaning: “With Ovo you can’t do it better – but you can do it longer”… Ovi was part of my childhood in Switzerland. And it seems to have inspired you and your friend for adventures.
I checked, Petra. And, yes, the Swiss product Ovalmaltine is sold under the name Ovaltine in America. I loved it as a kid, but haven’t had it since then.
The fun and innocence of childhood adventures help shape who you become. But after the wallet escapade, you’re fortunate to have grown up! 🙂
;>)
I thought the same as Nancy above while reading this post. (Maybe it has to do with our name?!) It’s a wonder you made it to adulthood with all your misadventures. Have you ever thought of a memoir-movie? The wallet story would make a great sequence!
Why did my comment (above) turn up as Anonymous, I wonder.
Puzzled,
Nancy Ruegg
Sigh. Who can know the mind of WordPress, Nancy.
WordPress moves in mysterious ways, our comments to confound…
;>) Exactly, BoB.
Enjoyed this post. Oh, the childhood memories. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure, San.
What a sweet, wholesome story, Mitch!
🧡
Fun! Until it turned scary at the end. Now I am going to read about “Rinty”,
I discovered Ovaltine in London many years ago, and loved it 🙂
I was surprised to learn from another blogger that Ovaltine is actually a Swiss brand. When I was a kid the adverts had such an Americana vibe. But then, so did Nestle’s Quick ads, and it’s also a Swiss brand.
I wish there was more about those dangerous crooks. I’m sure there must be stories 😁.
Stevie and Rinty sounds like a combination you needed.
I wish I had more info about the crooks who were using the house, but the fact that we squeaked out just in time is all I know.
Lovely story, Mitch, about times long since past. Life much simpler. And Rinty was also the name of the dog in Circus Boy on tv way back then.
Great to hear from you, Connie!
Blooming heck!! Rinty!!
;>)
In March this year, I met up with Baggy Boyle, my best friend when I was about 10 years old, His family theb moved away…… and that was that. We met up in March in a little pub in London. He was a Uuniversity Professor, and I had also work3d in the area of education. We were meeting after sixty years. He was just the same, crazy as ever. We chatted for hours. (He used to live in a house at the bottom of the hill and I lived at the top. We used to converse in morse code with flashlights. We both remember our dots and dashes.
How cool that you were able to reconnect after all that time, Geoff.
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That was neato 😁
;>)