Flashback

By Bob Schwartz

These are the stories about my life, Bob Schwartz.

They are all true. Some will make you laugh, and some will make you cry. It is my hope that all will be of interest to the reader.

This is the kind of book that has short short stories. It is the kind of book that I hope will entertain the reader as he goes to lunch, takes a plane, or visits the bathroom.

The stories cover the years from the 1950s to the present. They talk about my parents restaurant on the west side of Chicago, my many jobs, and my work as a teacher and a salesman. They cover a world that has gone and the people that were a part of it.

The stories are all flashbacks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524609061

Bob Schwartz

Bob Schwartz was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Teacher’s College and received his master’s degree from DePaul University. He taught in the Chicago Public Schools for thirty-five years. Upon retirement, Bob went into business selling closed-circuit machines. He called his business Robert’s Reading Systems. The CCTV’s enlarged print allowed visually impaired people to read. He did this for twenty years. Bob retired at age eighty and wrote this book at eighty-four. He lives in Lincolnwood, Illinois, and has traveled all over the world with his wonderful daughter, Tammy Siegel. These stories are about Bob’s life. All are true.

Book preview

FLASHBACK

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Bob Schwartz

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2016 Bob Schwartz. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  05/13/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0907-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0906-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedications

The Tombstone

Free At Last

New York

Hell

Drummond Elementary School

And Then There was Candace

She Ain’t Jewish

Bonnie’s Gone

The Milkman

The Store

Red Soup

Money

Caruso

Cast of Characters

Big Ed

Bob and Ruth

Ruth

Taboo

Squalor

Mother Lay on Her Death Bed

Blame

Part Two

The Morgue

Giants Fall Hard

What’s in a Name?

The Passion of Sally Joyce

A Most Civilized Man

Sardines

The Music of the Night

Dedications

This book would never have been written without the prompting of my friend, Ed Flynn.

I thank my daughter, Tammy Siegel who read each story and laughed and cried at the proper places.

The Tombstone

When my wife died, I had no grave to bury her. I didn’t own the dirt to cover her body. I had to buy a tiny plot of land to place her into.

When that was done, I needed a gravestone to place at the spot of her demise. I bought the site and the stone. I placed my name next to hers, knowing that no man lives forever and that my children should not be burdened by finding a spot for my dead body.

I visited her grave and lay down in the spot where I would later spend eternity.

On top of the grave, I could smile and get comfortable. In the years to come, I would be under the earth and become the food for worms.

Before and after are the only two photos that appear in this book.

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Free At Last

I had just graduated from John Marshall High School on Madison and Kedzie. It was located on the Grate Vest Side of Chicago. I was just four months away from my 20th birthday. I was a sick kid which is why I had graduated at such a late date. I was going to New York.

I had never been out of the neighborhood and it was going to be a great adventure. It was to be my Camelot.

I had many friends in New York. They wanted to be in show biz and that was their great adventure. Fat Joyce was the spirit behind me and the engine that let me to this trip.

I had known Fat Joyce since second grade. She was always overweight and in later years she registered into the Rockefeller Institute for Obesity.

She was a fat, fat, fatty. I was attracted to her because she was fun on a date. She was my first date in high school. Later she had a profound effect on my life. She gave me books to read and discussed them with me. She had me read all the Thomas Wolfe novels. It was she who felt I was bright enough for college.

She lived in a 5 story walkup and I was to share the place with her. It was $5.00 a week and you shared a bathroom and a kitchen with 10 others. It was paradise.

Before leaving, I had to make some money and I got a job as a short order cook. I only wanted to work for a couple of weeks and then get a job in New York. I needed money. My job was on Madison and Crawford from midnight to eight