Sean Croghan’s early confrontation with the things boys thought were cool.
Mom gave my brother Paulie and I a dime each and let us go with Uncle Jeff across the street to the little market next to the Eastside Restaurant. The Eastside was right across the street from Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house. The Eastide had a painting of a red Chinese dragon that was the whole length of the building, so when you were on the porch you could see its entirety.
Uncle Jeff took us across the street and around the corner to where the market was, the sun descending and the shadows stretched off to the east… My dime was in my pocket, and I was holding Paulie’s hand, and we were both thinking about what we would get: a candy bar, some gum, wax lips, maybe a pop. Uncle Jeff led us into to the little market, and we began perusing the stand where the candy was.Uncle Jeff pointed out some bubble gum cards called Odd Rods. “These are neat” he said. Uncle Jeff was 13 and a big kid, he knew about cool stuff. I loved his room that was filled with Peanuts memorabilia and anything that he liked, I thought I was sure to love.
I grabbed a pack of bubble gum cards and gave the store owner my dime. Paulie grabbed some candy, and we left the store for the short walk back. Paulie and I both opened our purchases as soon as we were outside, he dug into his candy bar and I peeled back the wax wrapper around the cards. Inside was a piece of bright pink gum, thin and syrupy sweet smelling. Under the gum were two cards, one a thin sticker that could be peeled back and applied to a PeeChee or your bed frame or wherever. The other card was piece of cardboard with a terrifying image on it. A monster was sitting inside a muscle car. I had no idea what to make of it but, the image frightened me with the dripping gaping mouth, the puckered skin and bulging eyes.
“Cool, huh?” said Uncle Jeff.
I didn’t know how to respond, I didn’t want to appear scared or uncool, so I handed him the two cards putting the gum in my mouth.
“You can have em, Uncle Jeff.”
Original artwork courtesy of the author