A few more things, about my friends

While the memories are flooding back, a few more memories about my friends...Frances Hasty(one of the friends that went to the movies went us on Saturdays, was in a horrible accident right in front of my house...As I said before, Market St. Rd. was a very busy rd., or street, whatever you want to call it,...The highway dept had made it wider, and took a part of all the yards of the houses along Market St. Rd., and put us in a deep ditch in front of our houses.. Now, this was during the war, and a lot of workers fron the Shipyard(Todd) used the way to go to work, and there were 3 shifts working 24/7 to get Ships, parts made for the War, there were Men and Women working side by side..Women learned to Weld..(that was so unheard of in those days_, but I guess that is the start of Women coming into their Own, and these women worked so hard..as I said in a earlier part of this blog, everyone worked together for our "boys" in the Service...O.K., back to Frances....now there was a Ice Cream truck that came down Market St. Rd., in the afternoons, and a few of the boys in the addition got to where they would come up to Market, and try to jump on back of the bumper of the truck, ..now this was a large truck, and carried ice cream for the whole area around there, he would drive down Market, then go on into the addition(as we called it), I usually went down to the street behind us, when he stopped on it, and got a ice cream fudge bar(my favorite) Donnie and Donald went with me usually...that afternoon, some of the older boys came up and jumped on the bumper of the truck..well, Frances was with them(only girl), and they dared her to jump too....She was about 10  years old...well, you didn't dare Frances to do anything, she always took you up on whatever it was, and she did that day., She jumped and missed the truck, falling under the truck, with one of the wheels running over her head., the boys were screaming, everyone was running out of their housed to see what had happened,...My Mother ran out with me right behind her..The Ice Cream truck, stopped , really not knowing that she had fell under the truck, ...now I look back and wonder, Didn't this man know that these kids were jumping on his truck, or was he not aware of this, as it was a large truck for a ice cream truck, as the boys would just jump on and maybe ride a little way down Market, and jump off when there was not cars coming and run across the street, and on their way..but , whichever...There was Frances in the middle of Market, and of course the cars stopped, and someone made the phone call to what is now 911, at that time, We called the police station, and they came and sent Medical help..I think it was my Mother that called, Frances Mother..We all thuoght she was dead, as she was not moving.Medical help came, and took her to the nearest Hospital, whick at that time was in Houston..WE found out later in the day, she was living, but was very bad off...Needless to day, those boys never jumped on that truck again...Frances was left with deftness in one of her ears, and  everyone said it was a Miracle that she was even alive., ...This was a one of the biggest lessons to us kids in that addition...after that, we respected Market St. Rd., and would stand until there was not a car in sight to cross Market..Frances recovered , but missed a year of school, from her head injury...all of the neighbors took food for a long time to her house, and the kids went to keep her company when she was up to it...one of the bad memories..there were a lot of good ones..We all rode our bikes over the addition, ..now, I didn't have a bike for a while, ..My Brother had one, it was blue, and of course a boys bike, ...well, he outgrew his bike, and started driving, so his bike just sit in the garage..so, for my birthday, my father painted "Brother's" bike red..(my Mother's idea) put a sheepskin cover on the seat, and that was my birthday present that year...I was SO happy, I didn't care that it was a boy's bike, it was MY bike, and I loved it,..I couldn't wait to show donald and Donnie my bike, ..of course , Donald had a boy's bike and Donnie, if I remember used her Brother's bike, as he was learning to drive at the time.. we all went for a ride that day, ..I remember being so careful, and thinking that  was one of my best Birthdays so far., of course I went on to have Wonderful Birthdays in the coming years, but then, that was one that stood out in my memory...We all got to that age, that we had "crushes", The Teen Years, ...now these "crushes" would change from week to week...Us girls starting paying attention to our hair, our clothes, and thought we were very grown up...we were about 13, and outgrowing our Paper Dolls, etc...now I know it sounds like we were too old for Paper Dolls, but at that time, the pace was slower,and that was normal..we still liked to ride our bikes, but it was boys and girls then..About that time, Donnie's Father built a '''cafe" , as they were called then on down Market St Rd., in fact right before you got to the City Limits of Jacinto City..there were living quarters in the back for the family to live in, later, he built a house  , as the cafe's business grew. the name of the cafe was "Hi Neighbor"...they served Hamburgers mostly and all the trimmings, ..there were other foods on the menu, but as I loved hamburgers, that was my favorite..Before they opened for business, Donnie's Mother and Father let her have her 13th Birthday party in the cafe., ..Now that was a "big deal" for all of us kids, ..they had a "juke box", and her Mother said we could dance..she invited all of our crowd, as this was our first "grown up" event, we all looked forward to this party..it almost made up for the sadness of Donnie having to move from next door., now that was a very bad time for her and I, we were best friends for years, and could go anytime to each other's houses, and spend nights with each other often,..well, you would have thought that she was moving to another state, instead of about a mile away., actually, it WAS like she had moved far away, as she slowly changed, and we were not as close as before...but , to go back to the party, we all dressed up...her Mother made us all hamburgers, shakes, french fries., and her Father put money in the juke box for us to dance...well, not a one of us actually knew how to dance, but we all got on that floor, and just jiggled around, ..at that time, the jitterbug was the DANCE, ..it had to be a funny sight, with us 12 and 13 year old kids trying to do the jitterbug, but it was SO much fun...i spent a few nights at Donnie's after that at different times., they were open til late, and needless to say, we didn't get much sleep, and Donnie had to share her room with her Brothers, so most of the time, she stayed with me at my house, when she could.,as my Brother was in the Navy, and I had my own room, til he came home...well, I could go on and on with my memories, but for now, will do that later....