How the Fraziers deal with bullies

Part I: "Walt Clyde Frazier" vs. "Karon"

My brother Evan (Beer-on-the-Girl) and myself (Walt Clyde Frazier) moved to Teaneck in the spring of 1985. I was 8 and at the end of third grade, and BotG was 5 and in kindergarten. My parents (PopsRick and Linda) picked Teaneck for many reasons, I assume a couple of which were its diversity and quality school system. Shortly after we moved in, the summer came and I got to playing around in my neighborhood and meeting other local kids. I was a couple of blocks away with kids from the neighborhood doing whatever kids do. One kid, we'll call Karon, was one of the tougher kids in the neighborhood and for whatever reason wanted to kick my ass. As I don't remember this personally, the rest of the story is told with the help of PopsRick's recollections.

(from PopsRick's perspective): I was in the sunroom in the new house working on screens or some such when I heard someone run up the front stairs and slam the door...only moments later did I hear a young voice yell from outside... "[Walt}, I'm gonna fuck you up!"

I tend to move slowly in these situations, let them play out a bit...the next voice was [Walt]'s, excited, challenging, maybe 5 seconds later...

"Oh yeah, come in here, Karon, let's sit down and see who can play the piano better!"

Pause...

(young voice, Karon's)..."Forget you, Karon."

Karon walked away and never messed with me again.



Part II: Beer-on-the-Girl vs. "Ron"

Not long thereafter, Evan ran into a bully of his own. Once again, PopsRick recounts the story...

When Evan started taking the bus, the pick-up was at the corner of Selvage on Margaret...there were usually 5 or 6 kids, no parents, so Linda and I took turns 'keeping track' of Evan. I normally turned the corner on Selvage and pulled over to the side. One day I saw (in the rearview mirror) a boy MUCH BIGGER than Evan come up to him and push him hard. Evan looked at the boy, dropped his bookbag off his shoulders, and assumed a karate stance (Walt and Evan both were taking karate classes at the time....The big boy did nothing, and backed down to a kid half his size. That night I told Linda not to worry about the bus stop anymore.

And Evan never had to worry about that kid again... (who we recently found out grew up to be a thug as an adult).


So, two different styles... one tough, one, uhh... unorthodox... and the Frazier boys got along fine in Teaneck after that.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

It's been a busy two months for the Frazier family.

First, in December, Mrs. Frazier and I became homeowners. This made us happy. Even the snowiest winter in Philadelphia-area history could not cool off our spirits.


Moving... a huge hassle, but allows you to "streamline" your life and throw out a bunch of useless shit... in theory.





Home ownership isn't all rosy. Apparently, it's not always sunny in Philadelphia. Sweet hat, Walt.





The two-foot snow was followed 4 days later by a foot of heavy snow that closed school for two days and even broke branches off of some of the pine trees in our lot.




Anyway, so as all of this was going on in South Jersey, Beer-on-the-Girl, my brother, accepted a federal job in Boston and had to figure out how to sell his condo and not take a huge hit on it with the state of the real-estate market.

(By the way, all you clowns better give him as much shit when he comes home for Toilet Bowl 2010 in a Tom Brady jersey as you give me for professing to like the Eagles.)

Our mother, Fubby, was looking for a good reason to go through the hassle and life-change of downsizing now that the two of us are grown and she had a 3-bedroom house to herself. And, amazingly, she found a buyer very quickly for her house on Margaret Street in Teaneck. So, it was done. BotG has an apartment set up in Boston and is starting his new job tomorrow, Fubby will be settled in Hackensack in BotG's condo very soon.

I suppose this is the end of an era - the Margaret Street era. Officially saying goodbye to one's childhood is bittersweet. No more juvenile debauchery like this. Maybe it's for the best.

Walt "Clyde" Frazier's Stream of Consciousness...

... will now feature contributions from none other than Walt Clyde's brother, Beer-on-the-Girl. Stay tuned!

Beer-on-the-Girl turns 30

Walt Clyde's brother, Beer-on-the-Girl, turned 30 on Halloween. We rocked it out in style for his birthday. Halloween night - NYC. Then, to Atlantic City for debauchery. (Though, I must say, I am vowing NEVER to go to Manhattan on Halloween in the future, especially the next time Halloween falls on a Friday or Saturday. It was absolutely insane.)

Happy 30th, BotG.