It was not that anyone doubted the power of Pidge, I just think no one expected such a fast turnaround on his pledge. Perhaps it was due to all the connections he had across the entire city. If he didn’t personally know a kid in the Jewish community there were his parents, aunts and uncles who knew their parents who would assist him in getting in touch with whomever he was trying to reach. In other words he was networking in the dark ages long before the advent of My Space, Facebook and Twitter.
Not only was he able to coordinate an event with an eastside BBG chapter, but it was Hatikvah, a chapter with around thirty members like us and a reputation for only having cute girls. Of course I never knew who originated or verified the reports on which the reputation was built. In looking around at meetings it occurred to me girls probably received similar reports and I wondered where the guys in Witt AZA would fit, and what kind of scale was used to evaluate our level of attractiveness.
Arrangements were made between our leadership and theirs to go out trick or treating for UNICEF. In the Milwaukee area the tradition was to have kids put on their costumes and go from door to door the night before Halloween. Since Halloween fell on Monday we decided to meet Sunday night and seek donations during a time we were likely to find people home and hopefully in a generous mood.
With four or five guys who had driver’s licenses we were able to carpool to the eastside without having to involve parents. Our rendezvous was to begin and end at Maura’s house in the prestigious suburb of Fox Point. Maura’s father had gone to North Division High School with my parents but he left the westside after becoming a successful businessman. His residential developments were so successful that the street on which they built the house we went to that night, Atwahl, was actually a combination of the first syllables of his and his partner’s surnames.
Another consequence of moving into the higher echelons of society was the perception that one attained certain distinctions faster than those of less means. An example of this was the persistent rumor that Maura, who was around my age, had gone all the way with her boyfriend. For me this news was almost overwhelming because I was just starting to get an idea of what that meant.
On the way over some of the guys started making pessimistic forecasts that only a few of the girls would show up. Ever the optimist, Pidge assured us there would be a good turn out, and as his eyes flashed with excitement I worried the blinking would affect his driving. There never was anything to worry about because we all arrived safely, and there were at least as many girls there as guys.
Cousin Jim and I were paired up with Eileen and Laurie. Laurie was a senior at Nicolet High School and for some reason walked with Jim, while I walked with Eileen who at fourteen was tall with flowing hair and dimples surrounding a captivating smile. People couldn’t resist stuffing dollar bills in the slot of the UNICEF labeled black and orange milk carton she held out to them. We returned to Maura’s house to empty our carton and make a second round in the affluent neighborhood.
Although she was easy to talk to I never had many other conversations with Eileen until she started dating and later married my roommate in college.
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