Charles and me

When we got back from the farm, I had gotten pretty friendly with Charles who was from Maywood and we would catch the train and go into the Chicago and he would show me the sights. This was a time before parents worried about untoward things and the like happening to their kids, so we went all over, roaming from the lake to the west side and from the north side to the south side .Going into ( Jewish, Polish, and Black neighborhoods) sampling foods and the culture.
We both had a little bit of larceny in our hearts so one time we decided to make a foray to the town just west of Maywood, Melrose Park just across the Big Four railway yards. There were at least 10 parallel sets of tracks you had to cross to take the short cut to the town. Our destination was a Western Auto store with the mission to steal a bicycle siren.
We both had on knickers with one pocket torn open so we would have room to drop the loot down our pant leg. Real clever young criminals. I copped a siren the kind that you pushed a plunger on top to make it sound. As we were walking towards the door my siren went “errrrrrr” and I tried to walk slower but a clerk heard it and said “ what that in your pants?”. We both broke out the door, it was no way the guy was going to catch us and flew back across the railroad yard. My siren “errrrring” with every step I took. Just as we were in the middle of the sets of tracks, a train came hurtling towards us it’s head light swiveling the whistle blowing. When you looked down the track you couldn’t tell which track it was on and there were so many we froze. Falling down between the tracks, we flattened ourselves in the ditch. The train flew by showering us with ciders and sparks only a track a way. You talk about scared shitless. Charles and I were shaking all the way home and when I left Maywood I gave him the siren as a reminder of our close call because I didn’t want to ever be reminded of that day. This rank right up there with some of the dumb stuff I did and lived to tell about.