It happened when we were twelve years old. Buddies
by
Fred Narvey
Simon Listernick was lucky. He got a good job for the summer working at the Globelite Battery Company. It didn't take long — probably two weeks or so and he landed in the hospital with lead poisoning.
We felt terrible about it. Harry Broverman, Myer Bakal and I put up ten cents each and bought a bag of chocolates for Simon. The Winnipeg General Hospital was on William Avenue and we lived in the north end of the city on the other side of the tracks. So we started walking over the Arlington Street bridge and took turns carrying the chocolates. It wasn't because the chocolates were so heavy. Nor was it that we didn't trust one another. After all, we were all buddies and members of the Elks' baseball team. It's just that we didn't trust ourselves with those chocolates. Our conversation went like this:
"Those are nice looking chocolates, eh?"
"Do you think Simon will like them?"
"I hope he doesn't like them and tells us to eat them ourselves."
"Do you think he'll offer us some?"
"We're all Elks, aren't we? Of course he'll offer us some."
"Don't be so sure. He has three brothers, you know."
"And what about his mother and father and the old man Travis, the boarder? I dare say they like chocolates, too."
"Maybe we should each have one chocolate, just in case." Which we did.
"Those chocolates taste even better than they look, eh!"
"Maybe we should have another one?"
"O.K. but that's the last one we'll take. Simon is an Elk, too!"
So we each had another one.
Was it my imagination or was the bag getting lighter every time my fellow Elks let me carry it? By the time we reached the hospital, the bag was as light as a feather. Could it be I was getting stronger? I took a look inside the bag. There were only three chocolates left! And all the time I thought I was the only one that was cheating. I turned to my buddies and addressed them:
"My fellow Elks. It's not nice to bring Simon only three chocolates. I suggest that we polish them off like good teammates, and avoid any embarrassment." I didn't have to ask twice.
We burst into Simon's room and all three of us "went into our yell" simultaneously:
"Rah, rah, rah, rah!
E for Equality!
L for Love!
K for Kindness!
Elks, Elks, Elks, Elks!"Simon looked each one of us over carefully and said, "And 'S' for slobs! Wipe the chocolate off your lips, you bums!"