Kennedy Park. Marge Williams. Two out of three ain’t bad. 1977 release. I remember being at Kennedy Park with Marge Williams, our neighbor. We must have been there for some reason related to Scott. I was 15.

A few years earlier at Kennedy Park, I was beaten up by Brian Palladino who would eventually marry Barbara Williams, Marge’s daughter. I have no idea why Brian stood above me while I sat crying as he beat me. I probably said something snotty and snarky while being forced to participate in Lodi’s Summer Recreation program since I could not be left alone without setting the house on fire.

It was the cusp between Freshman and Sophomore years in high school. Marge Williams heard the lines ‘I want you, I need you but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you, so don’t be sad, ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad’ and wanted to know more about it. In hindsight and through gossip it may have been around this time that Marge Williams’ marriage was falling apart and that song struck a chord within.

I spent a lot of time at 7 Riverview Avenue. I knew that house inside and out. They seemed to have everything, and I thought they were a more modern family, perhaps a younger family than mine. Later on, I was to find out that was not the case.

Marge Williams wanted a fish pond, and her husband Edward L. set about creating one. It was a haphazard affair, and there were no fish to speak of. Scott Williams, David Plauchino, and I would generally play in the backyard and cool off in the fish pond with no fish.

One summer afternoon, the three of us were cooling off when Jimmy Williams, the oldest son, showed up. Marge was inside and yelling at Jimmy, accusing him of being high. Whether or not he was, I couldn’t say. Marge insisted that his eyes were red and glassy and the more Jimmy denied being high, the more it seemed that he was actually high.

It wasn’t a good look for either of them, and Scott, David, & myself did our best to ignore the yelling and screaming going on. Perhaps this was when I started to see the cracks in the not-so-perfect facade of 7 Riverview Avenue. Once high school kicked into gear, I started to fade away from hanging out with Scott.

He was 6 years younger than me, and I was having enough trouble staying alive, negotiating the corridors of Paramus Catholic, and a year after that, joining the workforce. When I joined the workforce, I wound up reconnecting with Barbara Williams, who worked for the same book company, albeit in a different department.

Barbara would give me a ride home when we finished working at the same time, listening to the 8-track of Steve Martin, A Wild and Crazy Guy, or Toto’s album featuring ‘’Hold the Line’. So long ago and yet it seems like yesterday. Songs I remember I reckon.

A new day. Another day. Listening to the Paul McCartney singles collection, which is mostly fun. It is one of those days, though. I forget who said it, but April has days when, when you are in the sun, it feels like spring/summer, and in the shade it feels like winter. Well, there has not been much sun today, and everything is clammy & damp.

The usual hang-ups, laden with self doubt are in my path despite being at my usual fruit stand. Things that work at this fruit stand work fine but they do not apply or carry over to the main fruit stand where I had been the past two days. I just found this out when Janis had informed me. Next time I am there I will have to fully correct this.

It being April 2, a Thursday, means that tomorrow is Friday and will have a nice weekend. I do not think Mike will be visiting this weekend and Bill is working on a staged reading of a play that he had worked on last year. I am not attending sincew I would rather see Bill acting than providing stage directions to onstage readers and actors.

I ordered a book online, and it was delivered to the usual fruit stand. It is an ‘autobiography” of sorts of Neville Staple from the Specials. I always thought him sexy, and I guess on red-eyed night saw it on sale for a reasonable price and ordered it, having it sent to my fruit stand perch.

Then I forgot about it until getting the notification that it was delivered. I remember way back in the day, 46 years ago (?), where Neville attended a strip club in the Midwest and promptly got onstage and proceeded to strip down to his briefs. There was a photo I remember of Neville on his hands and knees being admired by various women.A nice package in those briefs. 46 years later I buy his story, such is my dusty lust.

Junior’s Farm is playing. I had this 45. My brother Frank was working for ABC Distributing in Fairfield, NJ, and would occasionally bestow gifts like a Paul McCartney & Wings single. Sometimes, a week or so before the official release. It did not know how special it was. Frank gifted me Elton John’s Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy album a week or two before its official release, and I don’t think I played anything else that summer of 1975.

At one point that summer, my brother Brian and I got into a major fight, Captain Fantastic was playing on what we called a ‘Close & Play’ portable record player. Brain was furious about something I had said or done and shoved the table the record player was on, causing a deep gash on the vinyl, which Brian would have to replace soon after, adding more to his resentment of me.

The dismal weather adds slowly passing hours to the clock. 2 hours and 15 minutes to go which translates to 12 hours.

I left the fruit stand a few minutes earlier and as I descended the stairs to the PATH Train, my phone rang. It was Jimmy Chile so I answered. He asked if I had left and I told him I had. He mentioned the party. Janis had gotten a promotion last week and Kimberly helped arrange after work party. I spaced and Jimmy Chile shrugged it off over the phone.

I decided to do something that wasn’t in my usual way of doing things. I rode to the next stop and crossed the platform to an uptown train. Within a few minutes I was across the street from the main fruit stand. I felt obligated to go. Both KImberly and Janis trained me at the fruit stand and I could easily make an appearance.

There was a glitch since my fruit stand pass was not good enough, I needed the app which I had from a few months ago but could never download it fully. I mentioned I could just as easily gohome when I turned around and saw Kimberly and Janis approach. They wanted to know what was going on and I explained. Kimberly went to talk to the front desk personnel and I played with the app, which was actually fully loaded.

We were on an elevator to the top floor where a load saxophonost and guitarist were doing some songs by Outkast, quite loudly. I looked at the menu and thought about getting a pint of Guinness instead of the club soda which was my original idea. While waiting for a waitress to appear, I saw Bill was in the area.

Quite close according to the map. I called him thinking it could be my way out.. I really just wanted to go home and I did tell Janis how I appreciated her. I said Bill was outside and that I had to go. Bill was outside but not as near as the map said. I was soon back in the elevator and on the street. The PATH train was within a few steps and soon I was back home, before Bill.