different times

But it wasn't all peaches and cream. There were some very different times. I was president of the altar boys at our Catholic Church. As a young teen I touched my first woman's breast in the bushes in the back of that church. The parish Priest, Father Kris, was a neat peaceful cat. I always felt funny about making confessions to him, it was always the same thing, and I always had to say that I was sorry and promise to say a bunch of Hail Mary's and such.

The next week, it was still the same thing, and it almost always had something to do about sexy girls. On holidays like Christmas and Easter, Father Kris came upon the idea that some of us could save time by making our confessions on Saturday, and then receiving Communion on Sunday. I always had to bend the rules then, or go back to confession on Sunday again.

All of us three brothers were altar boys at the Holy Family Parish. All three of us were a package. More like a package of dynamite.

When I was 15 we were shipped out to, St Joseph, a private boys college in Yorkton Saskatchewan, about 250 miles away. I got into a classroom fight there and broke one of the bones in my arm right in half. It was our very first time away from home for any length of time. We made quite an impression on that college.

Our whole family is always at war with each other. And today, if someone isn't talking to another, something is very wrong. My brother the Dentist hasn't talked to my sister in twenty years. He went 14 years without talking to me once. Then we started hanging out again, but now he doesn't talk to me anymore again.

But back when we were kids, we were always together. Always fighting each other, but always together. Once I had a school girlfriend who I broke up with. She had my record player and some records. So Rick and I went to get them. A guy answered the door with just his pants on, and said Estelle wasn't there. But I knew she was, and as he closed the door, I punched him right between the eyes. He went down but came right back up, so I wacked him again. we raised quite a commotion, and the hallways of the apartment instantly filled. Someone said something about calling the police so I wacked this guy one more time. Unbeknownst to me the janitor arrived and he was an ex-boxer. I didn't hear see or feel anything. I just knew I was suddenly on my knees. He delivered one power packed punch to the side of my jaw and down I went.

Well Richard was standing there and the guy came at him. I was the scrapper in the family and I was just knocked down so Rick felt a little uneasy about that. The boxer came at him with such force that Rick ducked his punch and the guy flipped over Rick and hit the wall almost upside down. I was up by then, and Rick said let's get out of here. The crowd parted like Moses and the Red Sea and out we went.

As we pulled out of the parking lot a police car pulled in. We told him to back up and much to our surprise, they did. And away we went. I remember walking down the hallway on our way out and Rick said, " I didn't even mess my hair. " We were always very careful of our hair back then.

Well he didn't mess his hair, but he did break two fingers at the knuckle. So we headed straight to the hospital. We had been drinking a lot so we were in a bit of a happy mood. At the Emergency section of the hospital we were put in an examining room. Well I thought it would be funny if I got on the bed so I did. After all this guy had torn my shirt open and splashed his blood all over me, so I looked the worse off.

The Doctor came in and was pulling away my bloody shirt asking me what happened. I said that we had gotten into a scrap. But the doc couldn't find any wound so he asked me what was the problem. I told him that I wasn't hurt but it was my brother who was sitting on the chair who  had the broken hand.

The doctor was not impressed with our silly joke and gave Rick a couple of pain killers and told him to come back in the morning.

So we were always like that. Getting in and out of trouble together. Until one goofy time when nothing worked out right and some relative cheated Rick out of $15,000. Well he was SO hot, he believed this other guy when he said that I did it. I thought he was talking about something else, and it would be 14 years later when I found out what had happened. This guy, Raymond was his name, not only said that I took the money, but he stole another $10,000 before Rick caught on.

Anyway, since then, Rick and I had another disagreement, and he isn't talking to me anymore. Again.

As we grew older we would all go in different directions. The last big thing I did with Rick was when I was twenty-seven years old. We had this plan that would eventually make headlines around the World. I remember reading about our little act in Time magazine, and they said that the Mafia was involved. But really it was just a couple of Winnipegers. Years later when Rick was finishing his prison sentence, he would be going to University from the Penitentiary. That's where he started with his Dentistry. Every morning they would drive him to the University, and every night he would be back in prison. Soon he was paroled and later he graduated as a gold medallist.

Me? Well I went to The Manitoba Institute of Technology. And like Rick I would leave for the college in the morning and be back in prison at night. It was sort of a weird Cinderella type story. All the magic of the outside world started at seven in the morning, and ended by seven that night. For twelve hours we were as free as a bird, and for the next twelve hours we were in Maximum Security.

My whole Life has had many twists and turns. But I have always been high in spirits. I would try anything once. Sometimes I tried things I had no business trying, and I would pay for that transgression. From Altar Boy to prison inmate, I have done it all. And if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would change it all. It seems that there are right ways and wrong ways, and I tried all the wrong ways. Today I am trying my best to do things right. Sort of....

In this next part I will tell you about my parents.