A valid request about who,when and how they fit in the story. O.K.
#1 Raymond Quincy Turner-1940's(Ruth Turners' father, my grandfather)#2 Julius Shultz1950's(My father)Ruth Shultz(my mother)Brandy(the Siamese cat)
#3 The pond at Pound Ridge-1960's
#4 Gilbert Samson Jones-1960's(my unc) In Pound Ridge
#5 Ruth Turner and Rupert Sylvester-1960-Conneticut
#6 Sacco and Vanzetti-!920's( No relation)
Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left) and Nicola Sacco in handcuffs
These Photos are of Gilbert Samson Jones , Julius Shultz, Ruth Turner Shultz, Raymond Quincy Turner and Rupert Sylvester(RQ's dog). Their stories will unfold as I write this. Let's direct our discussion to the dog and his role in todays adventure. Rupert Sylvester was a very brave and loyal Basset Hound. Our story begins over 40 years ago when my parents decided to try to transplant our urban family to suburbia. I was only 2 at the time, so my suggestions were predominantly non-verbal. This cluster of Manhattanites were contemplating on buying a house in Pound Ridge, N.Y.(some refer to it as the boondocks).These perspective buyers were surveying the property with the realtor, while Gilbert(Unc) as I called him, was taking care of me. It had a fair sized pond. My parents were on the other side investigating the bounderies of the property. Now this part I obviously don't remember, but it would appear that I performed a Houdini like escape from uncs' care and decided to do a little investigating of my own.. Unc said he heard barking from Rupert and wondered what he was barking at. Seeing I was no longer fastened to my chair, he scrambled to find where I went. I was nowhere to be found. Suddenly he heard two big splashes. Not knowing how to swim he yells for my parents to come quick. This I would have liked to see, as they were very leasurely people when it came to brisk immediate movement. Now Unc was deciding what would be his best course of action. He didn't know how to swim and was deathly afraid of the water. He looks out at the pond and there's no one there. My parents arrive out of breath with a bewildered real estate salesman close behind. This is when they hear me laughing and Rupert barking about 50 yards away on the bank of the pond. The evidence seems to suggest that I fell or jumped in and Rupert jumped in after and grabbed me by my overalls and dog paddled me to shore. He then proceeded to sit on me and lick algae from my face.Despite my adamant protests and squirming he kept me pinned untill someone came for me. Everyone was greatly relieved and we did move there . All of us my parents , Unc , my grandfather who owned Rupert Sylvester (the life saving dog) and myself. This is the story of how we all got together. A few years later we were all settled and life was going smoothly, at least for me it was. I was now 4 years old and this adventure I remember. It was late one night in early November. The air was crisp and a chill was in the air. In fact it was the first night we turned the heat on. My mother was asleep in the basement, my Dad taking a nap in the study and everyone else asleep in their beds. Unc lived in the attic and the smell of smoke woke him. He went down stairs and the smell was even stronger. He calls out for everone and no one answers. He then goes looking for the source of the fire. It appears the furnace exploded and was burning at full blaze in the basement. He woke my dad to call the fire department while he wrapped him self in a wet blanket and ran into the smoking blaze of the basement. Holding his breath he found my mother unconscious and carried her to safety. Outside the house, where my dad was holding me.I remember watching the bright flickering orange light. Unc asks "where is RQ?" (Raymond Quincy, my grandfather) my dad points and says "He was right here a minute ago. Oh no! That idiot went back to bed, I thought he was joking." Unc ran back in and up the stairs to find my grandfather sleeping in a smoke filled room. Unc carries this 6 foot 200lbs. man out to safety. Now the firetrucks are coming and I am clapping at all the flashing lights, loud sirens and adventure. To my dismay I am sent with the neighbors to eat Sugarsnaps cereal (the one one with bear on the front of the box) and wait out the fire. Well morning comes and I see the sunrise, my family picks me up and we leave immediately for a road trip to see my grandparents, who live in someplace called Nyack, N.Y. If you know where this is, you'll understand when I say they lved on the Tapanzee bridge. I always thought as a child "Does that have anything to do with monkeys?" I put a link above for anyone who has never seen or wants to see the Tappan Zee Bridge.We arrive early in the morning and there are lots of hugs and gasps as we all tell the story of the fire to my grandparents, aunt and cousins. This goes on and on. My cousins invite me to go for a walk with them. I was very excited they were 4 and 6 years older than me. This was the first time they ever asked me to do something wth them. They wanted to show me something cool. So I followed them and we walked down to the bridge. It was very cold and I was shivering, because my winter jacket was in the fire. All I had was a couple of sweaters over each other.We arrive at the bridge. My cousins tell me to put my tongue on the railing of the bridge, because that will make me feel warmer. I did and it got stuck they laugh and said "See ya sucker." If you've ever put your tongue on frozen metal, you'll know what I mean when I say "I was stuck and stuck good!" I was now getting numb with my tongue stuck to the railing of the Tappan Zee Bridge. My first thoughts were " Help!! Someone please help me!" I waited and shook for what felt like forever. I hear Unc yelling my name " Jooody, where are youuu?" Try as I might all that came out was" Ahg o eh hia" Unc sees me and tells me to wait, he'll be right back. Where did he think I was going? Where was he going? After what felt like an eternity he returns with a cup of warm water and gently pours it on the railing. My tongue and me gets free, and I jump into Uncs' arms crying and shivering uncontrollably. He unbuttons and opens his coat, which smells like moth balls. He then picks up like as he says " a sack of potatoes" and puts me inside to keep me warm. I know I'm fine now. He doesn't even ask me to walk, in fact he walks me right upstairs and into a warm bath. He tells me to cover my ears to keep them warm. He says" Just keep your ears covered for at least 10 minutes." I say "O.k. unc sure, thanks for saving me." He grunts something and closes the bath room door. I figure out why I have to keep my ears covered. It's because there's going to be yelling and doors slamming. I really don't like this, so I run down stairs and grab my mother and tell her to please don't start the yelling because of me. Everyone is looking at me because I'm as unc says "Look at you boy, you're as naked as a Jaybird" I realize I am, so I shake my butt at everyone and run upstairs . I hear laughter now . I know things are gong to be alright. By the time I finished my bath and got dressed, my aunt and cousins had left, which was fine with me. There was food on the table and I was really hungry. What I was really excited about was it was Saturday morning and that meant cartoons. I had a busy day ahead of me. Several months later we move back home. Everything smells new even the wood. Life continued to flow as it has been known to do on occasion. The next thing that comes to mind is a guy on T.V. named Kennedy. The thing that fascinated me was that stripe of baldness on his head. What was that? I had never seen anything like it before. I asked everyone in the house and no one new what I meant. So I brought Unc and my mother down to the T.V. room to show them. They say "Oh, that's what you meant. It's called a part" I ask "A part of what" They reply " It's a part in their hair." I say "What do you mean part? There's just a bald very straight line." This continued to baffle me for years. I wanted one. Everyone including the barber said" You have to many cowlicks for a part to work." I ask "How do I get rid of these cowlicks?" No matter what they say I would not be dissuaded from the fine bald line. I thought it was cool and wanted one. I regret to report it never worked out. Me and the "part" were never to be. I looked up Sacco and Vanzetti, it seems they were not kidnappers. They were criminals and were executed. There is a lot more to tell, but not by me. If you're interested checkout the link.http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Saco+and+Vanzetti. Well that's it for tonight. Oh! I forgot the cat was named Brandy because she liked to sleep in a large brandy snifter we had. It was a mystery how she never broke it or even knocked it over. Thanks, Jody
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