Oct 1, 2022
There was fear in the 1950s – of communist infiltrators, of the H-bomb, of mutations caused by radiation and of science.
On the humanistic level of how people treated others, there was sometimes the loss of dignity and sensitivity. More precisely, there was a fair amount of bullying taking place either physically or via intimidation. Back then, that humiliation was a fact of life that went unspoken and at times unsolved.
That type of domineering from the 1950s and 1960s toward victimized people has remained with us right up to the present. Some young teenagers convey this destructive action through what is now called online bullying. There is also the behavior called body shaming. The instigators of this action have caused some of the young recipients to be emotionally depressed and even suicidal.
That same physical aggression towards others perceived to be vulnerable can be taking place on any school playground. Likewise, it can be taking place in many other venues of our society where the strong can take advantage of the more passive. That enigma has sometimes been demonstrated in an idyllic setting of Medfield and surrounding communities. Now let’s journey in time and reflect on what could have been possible in the small town of Medfield’s history.
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It was nearing the end of summer in late August in the year of 1954, just within days before Hurricane Carol made landfall and descended upon Massachusetts.
Young Steve Mendez, Bernie Flynn, and Harry Bloomfield planned to go fishing in the warm afternoon sun on Kingsbury’s Pond. Around noon, Steve waited for them to arrive at his parents’ house on Curve Street, enjoying his perfect view of the entire pond. Steve was dressed in his worn-out white PF Flyer sneakers, faded blue jeans, and a yellow T-shirt that had the words, Cape Cod blazoned in big red letters across the front. His fly rod fishing pole ready for action.
With the sun in the afternoon sky, Steve’s friends were nonchalantly coming down Curve Street. First to arrive was Bernie, dressed in a gray athletic T-shirt and blue Bermuda shorts, and white boat shoes. His fiber glass fishing pole was in his right hand, and his buck knife was in its sheath at his left side. Harry brought up the rear, in a tight-fitting plaid short-sleeve shirt and navy-blue jeans with black and white Keds.
“Welcome to my humble abode! Hey, Bernie, you brought the night crawlers, didn’t you?”
“Sure! I got up early this morning to dig for them in my mom’s flower garden. I’ve got them right here in a tomato can. Can you say, “fresh meat?” Bernie asked Harry in jest.
“Yeah sure, just hold the mayo! You’re gross! Hey Steve, I brought the lures like you wanted. But I’ll tell you guys right now I’m not gonna be puttin’ those worms on my hooks! They just creep me out cuz they remind of snakes! Sometimes at night, I have wicked dreams about being swallowed by a giant anaconda!” Harry said excitedly.
“Look Harry we’re in a snake-free zone right now, so don’t worry, buddy! But great, thanks for coming, you guys. Let’s get started.”
From Steve’s home, they walked along the railroad tracks until they reached the spot where Steve docked his rowboat below. When the boys first looked down, it seemed like overlooking a canyon, with a small pond below.
“Well, there’s no sign of anyone else. We got the whole pond to ourselves,” Harry said.
“Hey, look, let’s get fishin’. We’ve got plenty of time to get a good tan,” said Steve.
The boys then launched Steve’s rowboat named Laika, into the water and imagined setting sail to a fantasy island. True, there was a very small island in the middle of the pond, but it was inhabited only by birds, bugs, and frogs.
Rowing to a shaded area near the island, they decided to drop anchor.
“Right, this looks like its deep enough where we can hook some trout. I’d like to catch some catfish, and then maybe take them home and have a fish fry,” said Bernie. “It doesn’t get any better, just bein’ out here on the pond.”
“I could just stay out here the whole afternoon,” said Harry.
“Hey, is this paradise? Sure feels like it. It’s just so much better fishing out here on the water instead of the shore. I bet I could just put my head down and take a catnap,” said Bernie.
“Hey look, I think I’ve got something reeling on the line,” said Steve with urgency, as he started to reel in a good sized catfish.
“Be careful how you take the hook out of his mouth. Those horns on both his sides can really cut deep,” said Harry.
“Don’t worry about their horns! I’ve been catchin’ these catfish all my life,” said Steve.
Bernie suddenly felt a big hit and sharp tug on his line, one that nearly bent his fishing pole in half. If the torque didn’t hold out, the pole might be snapped in two.
“Whatever I’ve got on the line, it’s puttin’ up a good fight,” said Bernie. With one final pull, Bernie landed a 10-inch bass into the boat.
“That’s the first bass I ever caught. I’m takin’ this fish home and ask my mom to cook it for dinner tonight,” said Bernie.
While that was happening, Harry was content to haul in catfish after catfish with his lure, giving them to Bernie for his Friday night fish fry. Meanwhile, Bernie didn’t want to stop fishing quite yet and decided to cast his line out again.
“Thought I’d do some casting with the new devil dog lure to see what I’d catch before rowing toward shore,” Bernie said. The devil dog had a unique way of twisting in the water, reflecting the red, white, and silver before the curious eyes of the fish. In the water, the devil dog was spinning, swirling like silver thread.
The afternoon had passed, and the boys practically forgot about the time. It was 4 pm and time to head for shore. For some very strange reason, Steve seemed to think something was watching them and alerted Bernie and Harry.
“Hey guys, do you get the feeling that someone or something is maybe watching us?”
“I guess I hadn’t really thought about anything like that since you just said it,” said Harry.
“Well what do you mean? You mean from the shore?” asked Bernie.
“Yeah, I can see from here over at the dam near Spring Street. There’s four big guys looking over at us laughing and pointing at us from the distance,” Steve remarked.
“I guess if we’re quittin’ for the day, I’ll reel in the devil dog.” As Bernie began to reel in his line, he could feel something heavy, pulling on the end of it.
“Hey, look Steve, whaddya know, there’s a huge snapper on Bernie’s line, and he looks as big as a hubcap! Looks like he caught and tangled his hind leg on the devil dog. Hope ya know how to get him off the line, Bernie,” yelled Harry. Bernie kept reeling in the turtle till he could carefully land it into the boat.
“I think I’m just gonna’ have to hold him down with my foot on the middle of his shell. Then I’ll reach down and unhook the devil dog. Good thing he’s not stuck to badly,” Bernie said. He then unhooked the turtle and threw it back into the water. Returning the snapper back into the pond was considered a good omen and a foreshadow of things to come on the day.
Without warning, the sky became overcast, and rain started falling on the boys and their belongings. and bloodsucking sandflies, yellow jackets, and mosquitoes started feasting on the boys.
Time to go! Not realizing they were heading for trouble, the boys rowed toward the dock by the dam where the four onlookers were. When they got there, Steve threw the anchor into the water to stabilize the boat. Then those onlookers began questioning Steve, Bernie and Harry about why they were fishing on the pond that day. The questioning soon turned to taunting and harassment.
Steve, Bernie, and Harry were at the mercy of the boys who were at least five years older than they were. From not knowing who they encountered, the three now entered into the unknown and were soon under attack. Simultaneously, time stood still briefly and the scene became freeze framed and nothing yet moved in this encounter. Between the worlds of the living and the dead lies a place that’s a haunting plateau where reality and dream-states combine to form fearsome interactions. The lines between the imagination and reality have become dangerously distorted and perilous, only to become reconnected again later on when all danger subsides.
“So what are you guys doin’?” asked the smallest of the group on the dock, while the others looked on with menacing smiles.
“We’ve just been out here fishing,” said Steve nervously.
“Yeah, no harm in that is there?” Bernie challenged bravely.
“Well, come to think of it, do you guys have a license to fish here?” asked a stocky, muscular boy who snarled when speaking.
“No, we don’t. I didn’t think we needed a license just to fish,” countered Steve.
“Yeah, you guys gotta have a license to fish here,” said one of the boys with dirty blond hair and a passive, half a smile on his face.
“You know, I think we should charge these guys a fee for fishing without permission,” said another tall, skinny kid who looked sinister, like he practiced looking mean in a mirror all day long.
“Look we don’t want any trouble, really! But we don’t have any money on us!” Bernie said, unafraid. Steve and Bernie hadn’t heard a word out of Harry, but they looked and saw his face white with fear.
Now the situation turned ugly as the smallest boy started pulling the heavy anchor up to the dock by its chain. He then began throwing the anchor into the water very close to the boat, again and again. Each time, water would splash into the boat and soon it was ankle deep on each of the three. The others on the dock were laughing while they kept taking turns throwing the anchor into water, splashing everyone.
Suddenly, Harry stood up in the boat, leaped to the shore, and clawed his way onto the embankment. With his rod in hand, Harry started running as fast as he could up Spring Street toward Medfield center.
Bernie remained stoic and shouted at the older boys who kept throwing the anchor into the water. But Steve couldn’t take any more of the confrontation and started yelling to please stop plunging the water into the boat. His voice started to become more emotional and desperate with anguish.
It was then that the teen with the dirty blond hair jumped into the boat from the dock and gently grabbed Steve by the shoulders.
“What’s the matter, what’s the matter?” asked the teen.
“I’m afraid you’re gonna sink my boat,” cried Steve with tears coming down his face.
“No, no we’re not gonna do that! No that’s not gonna happen at all. Guess we got carried away. Sorry kid!” said the older teen in the boat, trying to calm Steve down. He then turned to the others still standing on the dock and issued an ultimatum.
“OK guys, stop throwin’ the anchor into the water! You’re scarrin’ the kids. Leave them be and stop all of it!” said the teen leader forcefully. Without any backtalk or contradiction, all the others stopped their bullying and cruel game. And with that said Steve and Bernie began rowing the boat over to Steve’s mooring to be hidden once again within the bramble-bush near the shore at the other side of the pond near the railroad tracks.
“That was horrible, Bernie,” Steve said, now at ease after the ordeal.
“You got that right,” agreed a relieved Bernie.
Before the shoreline, the willow trees all had a silvery afterglow. It looked like pond water rose up in small waves that danced across the embankment. The two boys thought they could now hear the Hallelujah chorus being sung by songbirds and cooing doves that had gathered near the willows. It was such an unusual day, and within this frame were twisting eddies of water stretching out beyond the middle of the pond.
With the boat now hidden and the attack a frightful recent memory, Steve and Bernie quickly glanced at the top of the ridge and saw people were anxiously looking down at them while they started their ascent of the ridge.
When they got to the top, they were surprised to see who was waiting for them. First was Harry, who had run over to Steve’s home and told his mother there was an emergency: call the police station as Steve and Bernie were being attacked by a group of older boys. Steve and Bernie, soaking wet, embraced Steve’s mother, while the police officers made sure Steve and Bernie were OK. Steve’s mother again hugged her son. With outstretched arms she then embraced his two companions in a hearty group hug, infinitely and forever bonded while all four hearts and minds were beating and thinking as one.