THEN

Brief Unrelated events of the Past

When we were living in Cincinnati Ohio and my brother, Mossell was ten or eleven, he seemed to be having trouble walking. I asked, “Moss, what’s the matter with your leg?” He said, “Can’t bend it anymore.” I asked, “Does it hurt?” He reached down rubbing his leg and said, “Yes, can’t bend it anymore.” I said “You’d better tell dad.” “No, no,” he said there’s nothing wrong. I just can’t bend it. I’ll be like this the rest of my life.”

At the dinner table that night, I thought I had better say something to my father. I looked at Mossell, then at dad, he didn’t seem worried, so I just piped up and said,” Dad. Moss hurt his left leg.” Dad said, “Yes, I know. We’re going to see Dr. Clark in the morning, Saturday.” Mossell had told me not to mention it to my father, but he seemed a little surprised. I didn’t say anymore, and Mossell just stared straight ahead. I didn’t know what to think, so I just said, “Can I go with you?” Dad said, “Yes, okay, Moss,” who acted like he wasn’t paying any attention. He was sort of looking straight ahead at nothing and said, “Yeah, Dad, we’ll see Dr. Clark at 10:00 am tomorrow. If my mother was there at the time, I don’t know. Charles???? If he was there, he was probably smiling to himself.

We were at the doctor’s office the next morning. There were several people ahead of us. Mossell always tried to look after me. I looked at him. He was looking straight ahead. I whispered, “Does your leg hurt?” He didn’t answer, he just looked straight ahead. Finally, it was our turn. The doctor greeted us with a smile and said, “What have we here?” as he closed the door.

It didn’t take very long. As they came out, the doctor said, in a serious voice, “Come back next week and we’ll decide what has to be done.

As we walked home, I noticed that Mossell was walking a little better. I said, “Dad, I think Mossell can bend his left leg a little,” and by the time we got home, Mossell was walking normally.

At home, my father said to Mossell, “Don’t you ever pull that trick again. If there is something you need to talk about, your mother and I will sit down with you and talk about it.”

The Wilberforce Collegians

Paul and I played with the Collegians about two years. Paul played the guitar and I the upright bass. He wrote most of the arrangements. One year shortly after school started we picked up a kid just out of high school. His name was Snooky Young, a terrific trumpet player. He later played with several of the Big Bands including Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Doc Severenson, etc. Google Snooky Young.

More Collegians

In those days, most young men had a great deal of respect for the opposite sex. Our piano player, a fellow student. was a young lady. When considering her to join the group, the guys had one problem – our language. Our language? Yes, there were times that some of us didn’t express ourselves in a way that would be proper if a woman was present. Long pause – discussion -- long silence --- then one fellow, probably an English major, said “We could use substitute words, so the ”s” word became “shed.”

It actually worked out very well. I was really surprised. Our leader spoke of this while on tour, but a funny thing happened in Memphis, Tennessee before we headed back to Ohio.

A relative of one of the fellows invited the band to her home for lunch, all l5 members. It was a beautiful home with a large family room, however, when the hostess rushed over to three of our guys as they were settling down on one couch, with a large brush in her hand, she almost frantically said, “Oh, I am sorry I didn’t have time to brush the sofa, the dog slept on last night and I know she made a mess on it. She SHEDS all over the place. The three fellows jumped up so fast they were airborne in a split second. The nice lady relative never knew how funny it was. On the rest of the trip the guys were called the three astronauts.

PAUL AND I (continued)

I was still reeling and in shock to learn that Paul and Laura had been dating the year before at the University of Cincinnati. Paul, dating such an attractive girl and being so casual and nonchalant about it. Paul, who for years depended on me to help him socially, especially with dating. In high school Paul came to the senior prom without a date.

Laura came to Wilberforce that winter. The campus hotshots tried to make a move on her to no avail. Paul was her number one guy and everyone looked on with amazement. She was as attractive as ever. The girls on the campus took a big sigh of relief as the fellows who tried to date Laura were left puzzled and perplexed and put out. Where does Paul Brown fit in the picture? Paul and Laura were a couple.

(to be continued)