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fish, and he was a king. So it
seems John took the bear down to the Amherst River and took off its muzzle.
This was probably a mistake but it was brave. They can be mean, polar bears.
John was like that. Always trying new stuff. He didn’t care. Well, the waters
move fast down by the old house. They were streaming by and so, pretty soon,
was the bear. It wasn’t thinking about fishing, it just jumped right in the
water and swam off So you know what John Junior did?’
    ‘No.’
    Alfonso
chuckled. ‘Why he thought it was long gone so he just ordered another one. I
called him to say I’d found his bear outside the store. Gave me a start, I’ll
tell you. Not what you expect in Sassaspaneck. You should go out there. To the
zoo, before they close it. Take a banana for the gorilla.’
    After
the A&P we would go and fill up the car at Jacobson’s Garage on the corner
of Palmer and Lindhurst. It was really a Mobil station and it had a huge
stopwatch in the window. When Mother drove the Pontiac over the rubber tube in
the driveway the clock would start ticking and Gabriel had thirty seconds to
get out, wipe the windscreen and start filling her up or we got a prize.
Gabriel worked full-time at Jacobson’s since he got out of the draft. Sometimes
he was in the office when we came but mostly he was under some car. Other times
he would be welding and the sparks would shower round him like he was covered
in fireworks. Mother would get out and lean against the car while he twirled
the petrol cap off.
    ‘Fill
you up, Mrs Kane?’
    Then
she would need the bathroom and Gabriel would show her where it was round back.
He would wait for her for ages round there while I stayed in the car. After
that Mother would be tired. One time she was so tired she let me drive her
home. The car was automatic. Sitting on an old fruit box, I found it no problem
to drive.
    That
summer, Charles was allowed to go sailing in Greece with a friend’s family, so
Father let me buy a bike. He was busy commuting and Mother was, I don’t know,
in bed, et cetera. Anyway I know I went to Milo’s Toy Store on my own. I spent
ages deciding but in the end I chose a blue chopper bike with a long white
banana seat. It was trendy but not too girly. Milo came out on the sidewalk
with me to watch me take the first ride. As I came out a red pick-up truck was
going by. The sun was shining on the windscreen and I couldn’t see the driver
real well. Old white writing stood out on the passenger door: Burroughs Zoo. The back of the truck was empty but wisps of hay and straw blew about
against the sides. A woman was driving with one hand on the wheel and one out
the window holding the edge of the roof. I could see one side of her face but
when she turned the corner there must have been a trick of the light. It was as
if the rest of her head melted away. As if one side of her face didn’t exist at
all. Milo shook his head.
    ‘Goddamn
freak.’ I didn’t think he was talking to me. ‘You have fun now,’ he said and
went back into his labyrinth of Slinkys, footballs and bikes. I loved that
bike. I felt so grown-up as I rode it away from the store. I felt confident
that it would impress potential new friends. It didn’t. What it did was make me
the Marco Polo of our neighbourhood.
    Cherry
Blossom Gardens was off Amherst Avenue. The old railway track ran along Amherst
between the avenue and the river. Where the road left the last houses and
curved away toward the Expressway the railway track took off over the river
into the woods. Once there must have been a bridge there but now the tracks
hung silent, unprotected and naked across the river. They hadn’t been used in
years. Not since the mills had moved south to the cheap labour in Georgia. I
rode my bike down to the crossing most days. Sometimes I would ride along the
side of the track, pretending I was following the line south to freedom.
Sometimes my bike was a horse called Rusty and we lived on the trail eating
baked