We bought a new house
in a town called Transcona
It’s where I started high school
and began dating Lana
As I said in the previous chapter, when my buddy Pete Proskurnk took me to “Teen Canteen,” it changed my life and even though I couldn’t dance, I still went to as many dances as I could.
Once there, I’d spend the whole night just standing in front of the speakers as I felt myself going through a metamorphosis.
My folks had no idea that the guy who left home that night for his first ever dance would never return.
In fact, by the time fall came around and I started high school, the music had taken me over.
Even though I only went to hear the music, I couldn’t help but notice all those “pretty things” that were dancing with each other.
Most of the guys couldn’t dance, so my friend Rolly Blaquire and I figured out that if we wanted a shot at the chicks, you better know how to dance, so we taught each other.
However, we needed to do this dance thing behind closed doors because when you’re from Transcona, there’s no way in hell that you’d survive being caught dancing with another Dude.
Rolly and I spent many nights stumbling around my basement to Elvis, Fats, and Jerry Lee before finally becoming dancin’ fools.
The learning to dance thing worked really well for us, and before long, the ladies were asking us to dance.
I don’t know what we were thinking when we decided to take our show on the road, but we were very fortunate that the local “toughs” didn’t beat the sh*t out of us when we danced with their girls.
Rolly and I spent that whole summer dancing our asses off, but we had no idea that in a few years, the folks would be dancing their asses off to us when we formed the Jury.
As I said, when I moved to Transcona, I became overwhelmed by music, but I still loved baseball.
However, I still remember the day even that began to change.
Coach Zanko gathered us around and pointed his bat toward some girls hanging out in center field. “Stay away from them,” he said; they’ll ruin your baseball career.”
We, of course, had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but sure enough, about halfway through the season, we were out there with them.
Our coach wasn’t the most brilliant man I’d ever met, but he was sure right about one thing; I never did play baseball again.
Being fifteen is a terrible age for a guy; you’re too old to ride a bike and too young to drive.
One day near the end of my first year in Transcona, I’d popped into the Oxford Grill to get some French Fries for my long walk home, and once again, my life was about to change.
While waiting for the fries to come out, I happened to notice a pretty girl who with her friends, were celebrating their graduation from middle school.
After learning that her name was Lana I decided to stay in the ninth grade for another year so that could show her how the system worked.
Hey, it was the least I could do for someone who, in the future, would present me with a little something that would change my life again.
(Lana pictured above with me)