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Adolescence
The Music In My Life
A folk-mass at church, a mountain cabin full of friends, Sunday nights at the San Dune Tavern
May 1982The Every-Other-Friday-Afternoon Bridge Luncheon
As far as I know, my grandmother’s only regret in life was that she died on a Thursday. “Damnation!” she cursed fate in front of her sister Gert, her four children, and her thirteen grandchildren.
February 1982The High Diving Board
The man in the silk swimsuit stood on the edge of the diving board — now motionless. An unusual silence weighed in the air. Everyone turned to look at this figure balanced on the end of the board. A collective gasp pulled the air from the board as the old man bent his legs and in slow motion sprang into the air.
November 1981David Kemsmier: Scenes From Childhood
Many families possess tales of their occasional flirtations with opulence. Ours concerns Great Grandpa Kemsmier. Short of cash, he decided to sell his small matzoh business. The new management expanded into wines and other kosher delicacies — changing the company name to Manischewitz.
April 1981Favorite Places
The mountains, the Nags Head Casino, a cave in a thicket of forsythia
March 1981A Summer’s Tale
(Part Two)
Some mornings you have a feeling everything’s going to go right. I got mine when this blond girl in an old Studebaker, wearing light blue shorts, a cotton blouse, and sunglasses perched on top of her head, stopped to pick me up. She said she had the whole day off with nothing to do.
June 1980First Sexual Experience
In the tall broomsedge, in a nearly finished new house, in a tent
November 1979
