Growing up in Coney Island (Ma's story and she's sticking to it!)

Omar Blue

I'm out of it. Just took Ma home. Then made sure the K-9 Town perimeters were secure. I met some of my pack doing the same. We don't take any chances.

Ma had a good time, as usual. Again, I don't know how she does it. She ain't telling. She says these are "her" true tales and she can do whatever she wants.

Obviously!

We spent lots of happy time telling how members of my pack grew up. Then to Ma's surprise, her turn came.

She tried to get out of it, but we weren't having it. So here goes....

 
Imagine life, living just one block from the renowned Coney Island Amusement Park.

It was even better than that.

The exciting carousels, roller coasters, ferris wheels, water slides, and who could get enough of the “spooky houses.”

As a kid, I admit, a pretty long time ago, I thought Coney Island was the best place in the world to live. I was so lucky.

What fun I had in the cool ocean on a hot day or walking up and down the boardwalk feasting on tasty treats.

Best of all were my wonderful friends, Ma told us and we looked around at each other.

I knew all the sideshows and the people who ran them, she said.

My friends were the people visitors called freaks.  They weren’t freaks.  Maybe oddly different, but a kinder, merrier group I’ve never met.

Of all the circus people, one of my very best friends was Slimshadow.  Slimshadow was 9 ft. tall and skinny as a rail and he always had his 8 inch brown spider, Cookieface, with him. She was as well known as Slimshadow.

Hairy Harriet the bearded fat lady and I were just as close.  Weighing in at 650 lbs. with a beard 5 ft. long she was as happy-go-lucky as could be.

The four of us would sit sometimes for hours, Cookieface included, while I listened to their fascinating stories of old.  Cookieface had a way of letting me know when the two started stretching the truth a bit.  She’d come over and perch on one of my feet and look up at me with what had to be a big smile.

After a while Slimshadow and Hairy Harriet caught on and when Cookieface did this we all would bust out laughing.

 

What a happy time that was, though things had a way of changing quickly in the Coney Island underground, which is what it was called by the folks that lived there.

Another popular attraction was Jasmine the Snake Lady who could make her body do anything a snake could.  She was as long and slim as Slimshadow was tall and for this reason thought he and she should be together always.  She hated Hairy Harriet and even little Cookieface.  She wasn’t fond of me either.

While taking a walk down the boardwalk one day, I met Hairy Harriet who had been coming to find me.  She was moving fast with a worried look on her face.  She said Slimshadow was nowhere to be found.   Cookieface had told her that Snake Lady Jasmine had wrapped herself around him and rolled him away. Cookieface was so scared that she was hiding in Hairy Harriet’s beard while leading the way to her master.

They took off in a run with me following while wondering how a 650 lb. bearded lady could run so fast.  We went through parts of Coney Island I didn’t know existed, and came to a passageway that Hairy Harriet couldn’t get through.  I was about to tell her I’d go ahead to see if he was at the other end, but before I could get the words out she had hit the wall so hard that it cracked, then fell, leaving a hole big enough for her to enter.

We found Slimshadow at the other end with Jasmine still wrapped around him tightly.  She was yelling loudly, telling him why she should be his only friend.  Slimshadow was just as loud while being twisted into a pretzel, telling her, "If you continue to act this way you'll never have any friends."

Upon looking at this sight, Hairy Harriet ran over and pulled Snake Lady so hard that she almost broke in two.  But when Hairy Harriet finally calmed down, a sadness had come over her.  She was actually feeling sorry for Snake Lady Jasmine. 

Hairy Harriet slowly sat down and her and Slimshadow had a long talk with Jasmine. Cookieface and I stayed on the sideline, not knowing what else to do, but soon enough we were called over and were all lounging carefree while the Snake Lady happily told “her” stories of long ago.

During more than one of those tales, Cookieface perched on a foot and looked up at me.  After a while we shared its meaning with Jasmine and she laughed loudest of all.

I’ll never forget that day.

Ma finished then, though we all wanted to hear more.

She said it was time to get back to reality.

She'll be back! In the meantime, she'll be sharing our lives and adventures with you, so please come back to see us.

Love you.

Omar Blue