The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

ONE AFTERNOON, when I got home from school, I found a stack of cartons just inside the front door. Each of them was addressed to me. I rarely got mail of any kind—I was still a child, after all—and packages were rarer still, so the arrival of these packages would have been an unexpected treat if I hadn’t been expecting it, which I had been ever since the night when, sitting at the top of the stair...

ARIANE WAS IN THE KITCHEN when I arrived for my next afternoon of television with her. “Butter that toast!” she said as soon as I came through the door. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MISS RHEINGOLD SAT on the edge of her desk, holding the general science book open in front of her. Her habit of sitting on her desk and crossing and recrossing her legs had led most of the boys in the class—including me—to sit throughout general science in a rubbery slump with our eyes at the level of Miss Rheingold’s desk top so that if she recrossed her legs carelessly we wouldn’t miss the oppor...

THE FIRST OF MY AFTERNOONS in that dark little room with Ariane came about by accident—or luck. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

25 EVERY AFTERNOON, as soon as she got home from work, Ariane began watching television. Nearly every afternoon I watched with her. For hours and hours I watched movies and commercials on the Lodkochnikovs’ television sets, but I can’t recall one of them, even though I have a good memory for such things and can remember quite vividly certain movies and some favorite shows, personalities, actors, a...

THEN THE LODKOCHNIKOVS got a television set, and the center of my attention shifted at a stroke—not to the television set, but to Ariane’s hip. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

GUPPA AND MRS. JONES were much more successful. She worked in her basement, and Guppa sometimes worked there with her, but they wouldn’t let anyone see what they were doing, because they knew that it’s best to keep the rough work out of sight and show nothing until you’re ready. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substac...

ENTHUSIASM is useful in a crew of builders, but there can be too much of a good thing. An excess of enthusiasm becomes impatience, and impatience is dangerous in any endeavor that must be done right, for work like that seems to have its own idea of how much time it deserves to take, and it can turn on you if you rush it. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observ...

WE WORKED ON THE TOWER each afternoon when the school day ended. All in all, the work took us a couple of weeks. The first week and nearly all of the second went into clearing bamboo from the site. Then we erected the watchtower in two days of frenzied work. (During those busy days I discovered what a pleasure it is to hear a hammer hit a nail squarely. I didn’t hit the nail heads squarely very of...

FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS, our back yard was a hive of industry. Marvin and Raskol hit it off right from the start—something that, I suppose, could have been predicted from the fact that both of them could look at a perfectly good drawing of a lighthouse and see a watchtower—and the three of us launched into our work with an amazing burst of energy. It amazed me, and it sure amazed my father. ... Get...

WHEN WE ARRIVED at the Joneses’, Guppa wouldn’t let Marvin just lead him into the house. He insisted on ringing the doorbell, and he stood there at the front door with his hat in his hand, as if he’d come courting. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     Suddenly something like a verbal explosion occurred. I think that what I had to say had built to such a level within me that it couldn’t be contained, there could be no more hemming, no more hawing, no more beating around the bush. It wanted out, and out it came, in a rushing burst: ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterlero...

     “Guppa,” I said. “Remember what you were telling me about trade-in value?” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     We stood there for a while. Guppa leaned on the handle of the mattock. I scuffed my shoes in the dirt and wiped my hands on my pants. The unspoken hung in the air around us. One of us had to say something. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MATTERS CAME TO A HEAD on the Saturday afternoon that Raskol and Marvin had persuaded me to set aside for starting work on the lighthouse—that is, the watchtower. They knew I was fretting over the science paper, and they were convinced that building a watchtower would be beneficial. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.sub...

I WAS CONVINCED that Guppa and Mrs. Jones would be unbeatable on “Fantastic Contraptions.” All they had to do was add some windflowers to one of Guppa’s ideas, and they’d have a winner. From my point of view, the work was all but done, the prize all but won, once I brought them together. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterlero...

“PETER, PETER, PETER,” said Porky as soon as I walked through the door of Captain White’s. “Your timing is perfect. Sit down, my friend, sit down, sit down . We’re going to have a taste test.”... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

WHEN WE SAT DOWN to eat, my mother wrinkled her nose, leaned over her plate, sniffed at her food, gave it a puzzled look, and asked, “What is that smell?”   Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     “Hey, Peter,” said my father, waving the smoke away from his face, “where have you been?”     “I was up in Scrub Oaks,” I said.     ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

WHEN I GOT HOME from Marvin’s, my father was out on the patio, cooking a chuck steak.     For my father the barbecue season never stopped. There was a period, from November through February, I guess, when conditions kept him from grilling as much as he might have wanted to and when snow sometimes kept him from even reaching the grill, but these were only interruptions of his barbecuing, ... Get fu...

     “Peter, I’ll bet you’ve never seen trained chickens before,” Mr. Jones began.     “Dad,” said Marvin, in a tone that any kid I knew would have recognized immediately as meaning “Don’t embarrass me.”     “Mr. Jones,” I said. “Can I ask you something?”   ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     “What is that?” I asked Marvin. “What’s your mother making for dinner?” “Huh? Oh—court bouillon. Redfish court bouillon.” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS of Marvin’s family were of bustle and plumpness. There was a lot going on at Marvin’s house. He had two younger siblings, a sister and a brother, and they provided running, hopping, tussling, crawling, squealing, and giggling enough for many more children than two. Marvin’s mother was rushing around in the kitchen, making the clatter that arose from making dinner, humming and...

16 FOR THE FIRST SEVERAL BLOCKS of my ride to Marvin’s, what I saw was familiar, but then I crossed a narrow concrete road and found myself in territory previously unknown to me. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MARVIN LIVED in the northernmost section of Babbington, the section called Scrub Oaks, an area I had never seen before. I rode there on my bicycle, a Shackleton Superba. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe