I had occasion recently to involve myself into a frightening and potentially injurios expedition. Yes, I (without safety apparatus or a hazmat protective suit) ventured underneath the bed. As the dust bunnies fled for safety, I actually found the pair of shoes I had been looking for!But wait, there's more - I found a bag of decals that I've been lugging around for years (yes, I am a packrat and would enroll in a 12 step program but I would need 14). These decals originate from the late 1970's and find their roots in the automotive racing industry. I've always had an affection for anything with a motor that can be raced - boats, motorcycles, automobiles, lawn mowers, etc. My 15 minutes of fame was actually working on some engine parts (albeit as a subcontractor in a machine shop) for Richard Petty! Well, this bag of decals contains about 30-40 decals mostly associated with drag racing, and are in perfect shape. Examples of the vendors include:
- Champion (spark plugs)
- Crane (camshafts)
- Hooker (headers)
- Torco (racing oil)
- Fairbanks (transmissions)
- Holley (carburetors)
- Formula (racing tires)
- BME (forged rods)
- Team G (manifolds)
Now these stickers are in almost perfect shape, and there are a lot more I haven't mentioned. Maybe I'll put the whole lot on eBay for $500 bucks!
But wait, there's still more!
I found a cardboard mailing tube, like you would use to send a map or poster for shipping. Now, I have no idea what the contents are. However, I think that there are two or more items. I believe one of the items is my 1975 high school senior class picture. My school was small enough to have one panoramic picture of the whole class, and it is hilarious. My hair was down below my shoulders, and I was either so stoned I couldn't see the camera or I was adopting a tough guy stance - I don't remember. So the mystery is what is or are the other contents? This is kind of one of those delicious moments to savor - I'm going to leave the tube visible in our bedroom for a few days, and then if I still can't remember the contents I'll open it. And share with you the results.
But wait, there's even more than before!
Amongst the stuff from beneath the bed I pulled out an old, slightly yellowing envelope. Even as I touched it before I saw it I knew instantly what it was.
When I was a kid growing up in the desert, I learned the value of money through my paper route. Even had a profile once published in the paper with my motto - every paper on every porch every day. Makes me wish that our current newspaper carrier had the same commitment to service - their version goes something like this:
- Throw the paper on the porch knocking over Sherry's vase and breaking it. Wait for us to complain.
- Let the paper sit in the driveway absorbing rain. Wait for us to complain.
- Throw the paper back on the porch denting the screen door. Wait for us to complain.
- Rinse and repeat.
Idiots - is it THAT hard to simply put the paper in a dry spot without breaking something on a consistent basis? Oops! Did I say that out loud? Excuse me, just a little frustration creeping through there! Anyway, if there were any changes to my route, there would be an envelope with subscriber additions or cancellations. I found one of those envelopes and it brought back a lot of paperboy memories:
- Folding the papers as fast as I could, whipping the rubber bands over the finished product. This was before the days like today where they use those sissy plastic bags!
- Washing my hands afterward and watching the black ink dissolve in the hot soapy water.
- The kind ladies at the brick/stonework factory who would buy me a coke on a hot day.
- The canvas smell of the bags that I slung over my handlebars and learning to not unbalance my bars by throwing 3 from one side and 3 from the others. I can still smell that smell today.
- My collecting the subscription fees - "Hi, I'm Dave Mundt and I'm collecting for the Ledger Gazette". There is an interesting parallel here that I never realized until now - the paper route was my very first job and I think was 11 or 12. My first job at US Bank was as a collector about 25 years later and my patter went something like this - "Hi, I'm Dave Mundt from US Bank and if you don't pay your auto loan I'm going to repossess it".
- Once a month on (I think it was Wednesdays) we gave a paper to every single customer on our route to entice their business. The volume was significant enough there was no way I could do it on my bike, so dad would help me. We would literally fill the trunk of our old Ford Falcon with newspapers and Dave, and dad would slowly drive down the street as I chucked papers out of the trunk, right and left; right and left.
Well, probably the coolest thing on that envelope was seeing our old address - 44945 16th Street West, Lancaster California. Yeah, I'm just indulging here on a trip down memory lane but you want to know how old that envelope is? Well, here's a clue: our phone number at the time was Whitehall 2-3563!
Yeah, I'm a packrat. And I'm going to have to look under the bed more often!
