Recently Roy Hoffman asked, would I write something along the lines of, "A day in the Life of Fred's News." For the past sixty or so minutes, thoughts have swirled through my mind........yet nothing appears or screams, "start typing." Mrs. G. once asked me, "Where do you get these stories from, I know they are real, but how do you decide what to write?" I dunno!! Isn't that a literary leap of faith, certainly not proper English nor anything close to a perfect sentence, but simple put.....I do not know! These thoughts, at times strange, funny, poignant and a tad bit quirky are me. As we've often been told , opposites attract, true, but one also needs to understand, that my soul mate ( how sixty-ish) and loving husband, Mr. Bill, also possesses many of these same strange, funny, poignant and quirky traits, just as I do. For those of you that shudder upon hearing this revelation, his strange, funny, poignant and quirky traits go off into a different direction than mine, this is "the opposites attract" thing. To fully understand what "A Day in the Life of Fred's News" is, you have understand there was a time it was "A Day in the Life of Dee (Diane) and Bill.
If it is a minute by minute or hour by hour thing, I find that ever so boring. Up at two fifty in the morning, in bed ...sometime before two fifty the next morning, everything else fit in at various times throughout the day. There were however, some constants...muffins, bagels, pies, cooking potatoes, peeling potatoes, cutting potatoes for those ever so yummy, home fries. Oh yes, don't forget, the eye-opening, taste bud pleasing, first cups of coffee or those thirst quenching, icy cold glasses of the best-ever iced tea. Snuggled in the back of Fred's News, the old Coca-Cola cooler, standing guard, beckoning all who arrived...OMG ever so cold, little glass bottles of Coke. Bottles that still had caps that pried off, something many of the youngsters never heard of. It took beautiful Hee-Jung a number of tries to teach a few young patrons how to open a bottle cap. After their first attempt, a complete failure...."Give me that bottle, I'm only going to show you one more time!" she mused. How many young children wanted to collect those old pried off bottle caps!!
In the earlier years of Fred's News, one could press their faces up against the all glass candy counter and have their little brown paper bag filled to the brim with penny candy....when it was actually a penny. Candy cigarettes, wax teeth, Bazooka bubble gum, Tootsie Roll Pops, root bear barrels, Mary Janes, Bit-O-Honey, Fireballs, Non-pariels...OMG cavities galore, but very much a part of Fred's News. Perhaps of candy wasn't your game...pin-ball, was! Jeff Freeman, pretty much the champ on those games. Maybe you'd just stop by to be with friends and listen to the latest songs on the Jukebox, shades of Happy Days...but very much a part of Fred's News. Sounds like the old guys are talking politics, shut up or put your money where your mouth is....get the dice, loser owes everybody a coffee or iced tea., all very much a part of Fred's News.
Perhaps, Lu and Jim just needed some comfort after loosing faithful friends, their Black Labs, all within such a short span of time. Maybe, Fred's News was the place to meet after the sudden death of old Fred LaLiberte, one of "the Brothers". It was a time where instant healing began, one could cry tears of grief, yet laugh through those tears, when hearing all those "Fred stories." The fierce loyalties of the patrons, how they gathered, to protect, never ceased to amaze, were all very much a part of Fred's News.
Even when patrons themselves couldn't be there, if there was a need for Fred's to know, they'd call, just to alert, "Gather all, meet at Fred's...we will all be okay...we are here together. Remembering just such a phone call, from Richie Oatley, too sick to join his friends..."Dee, turn on the TV, quickly, it is so sad and unbelievable", 9-11, was just beginning. I do remember that day, people filled the little place, no one spoke, all eyes glued to the old TV.......yet they all found a certain comfort, support and closeness to each other, as they quietly watched. Occasionally, a cell phone would ring, updates from family far away. What truly amazed me that day, how many people called for reassurance...the world changed, but it was all very much a part of Fred's News. With each phone call, people would ask, "who was that, are they okay?" Son Mark called, he lived in Florida, no family near......"OMG Mom, is the TV on, did you hear...it's crazy down here, Air Force planes all over the place...We (meaning Disney) are closing the parks, sending people back to the hotels. Is everyone at the restaurant, waiting and watching?" I am okay Mom, we will talk soon. This was all very much a part of Fred's News.
One morning Fred, from Nutmeg Wire, along with Hogan, Al and many of the early morning regulars, arguing over the fate of the abandoned Baltic Mills. Nutmeg Wire located right in front of the old structure...In passing Fred makes the statement "Something has got to be done or it will go the way of many old abandoned mills...someone will torch it!" Less than four hours later, the skies thick with black smoke and flames....a piece of history, gone. "OMG!" amazed, Fred then says..."for the record, I ONLY made the statement!" Yes for the record, this was all very much a part of Fred's News, much in same way, blizzard warnings, natural disasters, accidents, deaths, births, Town celebrations, political caucuses, old friends meeting, family gatherings, and oh yes, did I mention...outstanding, absolutely scrumptious food, all brought to you by two strange, funny, poignant and sometimes quirky people, their absolutely wonderful sons, and many strange, funny, poignant and sometimes quirky friends.
If it is a minute by minute or hour by hour thing, I find that ever so boring. Up at two fifty in the morning, in bed ...sometime before two fifty the next morning, everything else fit in at various times throughout the day. There were however, some constants...muffins, bagels, pies, cooking potatoes, peeling potatoes, cutting potatoes for those ever so yummy, home fries. Oh yes, don't forget, the eye-opening, taste bud pleasing, first cups of coffee or those thirst quenching, icy cold glasses of the best-ever iced tea. Snuggled in the back of Fred's News, the old Coca-Cola cooler, standing guard, beckoning all who arrived...OMG ever so cold, little glass bottles of Coke. Bottles that still had caps that pried off, something many of the youngsters never heard of. It took beautiful Hee-Jung a number of tries to teach a few young patrons how to open a bottle cap. After their first attempt, a complete failure...."Give me that bottle, I'm only going to show you one more time!" she mused. How many young children wanted to collect those old pried off bottle caps!!
In the earlier years of Fred's News, one could press their faces up against the all glass candy counter and have their little brown paper bag filled to the brim with penny candy....when it was actually a penny. Candy cigarettes, wax teeth, Bazooka bubble gum, Tootsie Roll Pops, root bear barrels, Mary Janes, Bit-O-Honey, Fireballs, Non-pariels...OMG cavities galore, but very much a part of Fred's News. Perhaps of candy wasn't your game...pin-ball, was! Jeff Freeman, pretty much the champ on those games. Maybe you'd just stop by to be with friends and listen to the latest songs on the Jukebox, shades of Happy Days...but very much a part of Fred's News. Sounds like the old guys are talking politics, shut up or put your money where your mouth is....get the dice, loser owes everybody a coffee or iced tea., all very much a part of Fred's News.
Perhaps, Lu and Jim just needed some comfort after loosing faithful friends, their Black Labs, all within such a short span of time. Maybe, Fred's News was the place to meet after the sudden death of old Fred LaLiberte, one of "the Brothers". It was a time where instant healing began, one could cry tears of grief, yet laugh through those tears, when hearing all those "Fred stories." The fierce loyalties of the patrons, how they gathered, to protect, never ceased to amaze, were all very much a part of Fred's News.
Even when patrons themselves couldn't be there, if there was a need for Fred's to know, they'd call, just to alert, "Gather all, meet at Fred's...we will all be okay...we are here together. Remembering just such a phone call, from Richie Oatley, too sick to join his friends..."Dee, turn on the TV, quickly, it is so sad and unbelievable", 9-11, was just beginning. I do remember that day, people filled the little place, no one spoke, all eyes glued to the old TV.......yet they all found a certain comfort, support and closeness to each other, as they quietly watched. Occasionally, a cell phone would ring, updates from family far away. What truly amazed me that day, how many people called for reassurance...the world changed, but it was all very much a part of Fred's News. With each phone call, people would ask, "who was that, are they okay?" Son Mark called, he lived in Florida, no family near......"OMG Mom, is the TV on, did you hear...it's crazy down here, Air Force planes all over the place...We (meaning Disney) are closing the parks, sending people back to the hotels. Is everyone at the restaurant, waiting and watching?" I am okay Mom, we will talk soon. This was all very much a part of Fred's News.
One morning Fred, from Nutmeg Wire, along with Hogan, Al and many of the early morning regulars, arguing over the fate of the abandoned Baltic Mills. Nutmeg Wire located right in front of the old structure...In passing Fred makes the statement "Something has got to be done or it will go the way of many old abandoned mills...someone will torch it!" Less than four hours later, the skies thick with black smoke and flames....a piece of history, gone. "OMG!" amazed, Fred then says..."for the record, I ONLY made the statement!" Yes for the record, this was all very much a part of Fred's News, much in same way, blizzard warnings, natural disasters, accidents, deaths, births, Town celebrations, political caucuses, old friends meeting, family gatherings, and oh yes, did I mention...outstanding, absolutely scrumptious food, all brought to you by two strange, funny, poignant and sometimes quirky people, their absolutely wonderful sons, and many strange, funny, poignant and sometimes quirky friends.
Dee you mentioned some of the penny candy available at Fred’s News. Here are some others: multicolored sugar dots on a strip of paper, we used to call them pimple things, sugar water in wax bottles or other shapes, little licorice babies that we called n…babies ( I can’t spell that out here!), red and black licorice strings, wax lips and mustaches. Back in the ‘60s” After church on Sunday dad would give us kids 50 cents and we really did walk out of the store with 50 pieces of candy.
ReplyDeleteFred’s News was also the bane of the good sisters of Charity because every time a new toy came out it ended up at St. Joseph School; picture 30 kids with pea shooters.
How could I forget the wax lips and mustaches. I guess at certain novelty candy stores you can still buy them....but not for penny!!! We used to braid the red & black licorice strings. After playing with the damn things all day...we'd eat 'um. Talk about playing with your food!
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