Westgate

      After LA the family came back to New Orleans. At first we lived above a bar on Rampart which was challenging because of the weird people.  We did not stay long. The old man wanted to move to suburbs so he bought a house in the Westgate subdivision out in Metarie.         We settled into the new house on the GI housing bill.  One of our favorite games was played in an old refrigerator box. We called it tank. You'd crawl on your hands and knees inside the open ended box until it became flexible. You could then roll over almost anything.  We were on the edge of Louisiana wilderness where the new housing was being built. 

      For young boys this was the best of all worlds. We built many forts out of 2x4 end cuts and scraps.  We could find our way home by looking for the red and white striped water tower still standing today.  It was sad when we finally had to leave this interesting neighborhood.
      John C. Clancy was the school we attended. It seemed like recess would never come. That was when I could play tops and marbles. I could win at these shooting games taking home sacks of marbles and newly minted tops. 

      One day, I was called into the principal's office because of a snake I caught.  I was terrified. The snake was a harmless garter snake. My brother came to see me sitting in the office. I thought I was going to be executed or worse. There was none of that. Simply a warning not to bring animals to school.  I still was frightened. Funny how those things stay with you through life.
  The house the old man bought was on Michigan Avenue.  We immediately started building models. We had an antique flyer wagon that had big wheels. It turned into the dump truck, brick hauler and play thing for everybody. That wagon represented our first transportation.       When you stop and think about it the wheel represents the best that mankind ever came up with. The wheel gave him mobility which led to many other advances. In short, the wheel was the primary discovery that allowed civilization to flourish.