a very english brotherhood

As a child of the 50s and even the 60s, I can attest to this: a society strictly bound by rules of etiquette and behavior produces children who are free. Outside of home and school we were free to do what we wanted, unsupervised, and ran until dinner tolled and order was restored, until the next day at about 3, and all day on weekends, outside of team sports, but I think my sisters felt the way his cousin did.

To give some typical example, we lived about 10 blocks from Willie Mays in San Francisco. Hoping to see him outside, I rode my bicycle by his house frequently, and one day I was riding with my sister and another boy and said, “Why don’t we ring his doorbell and see if he is home?”

I rang the doorbell, and his maid answered. I asked, “Can we see Willie Mays?” She said, “I’m so sorry. He’s not home.” I knew she was telling the truth because I could see the entire foyer and the stairs leading to the second floor. He could hear us and would have come to the door and greeted three little kids.

My mother’s response to the untold escapade would have been, “That’s nice. If you’re hungry, you can have a piece of bread. Dinner’s at 6.”