Big Brother: Friend and Body Guard

Brad in Europe

Brad growing a Hemingway Beard

It's nice to have a big brother. They can take you places in their car when you are too young to drive yet. They can even teach you to drive their car but dont get too close to the mailboxes! My Big Brother Brad would even take me to the Dome to get a hamburger, fries and ice cream for dessert. The Dome made their own ice cream and had beautiful girls bring it out to your car on roller skates. We ordered the food with a intercom system they put on your door, sorta like the ones at the Drive-In Theaters. Very High-Tech in those days! I liked cruisin the ave with Brad. We saw some pretty powerful muscle cars. 496 cid Chevys and 489 Fords with these Glass-pipe exhaust, Thrushes and Cherry-Bombs, man could they scream. At a red light 2 musclecars would sit at the front side by side then the light turn green and they spin those tires. We'd be right behind them [but not trying to keep up,Brad's car a 1963 Ford Galaxie was not  built for racing though the 351 cleveland motor did 120 mph on the highway] One time this car was reving his motor up like crazy and when the light turned green he just sat there while the other car took off. That was pretty funny. I loved the Barracudas and Challengers with the huge rear tires and all jacked-up high in the back. Some even had chrome differentials [Rear wheel drive to you youngsters] Brad was a bigger than me so when anyone even thought about bothering me, one stern stare from Brad and they would sit back in their seat on the bus. Even I never would think of picking a fight with Brad or hiding something of his. Thats why we got along so well. He didn't tease me and I didn't hide his things. Big Brothers can also drive the motorboat when you want to go skiing or take out the raft to get to that spot with all the reeds growing in a horseshoe shape where all the big bass hang out. Man I can still taste them bass,perch and blurgills we caught. We'd fry them in a pan in the kitchen or grill them when Dadio was cookin burgers or steaks for a picnic. As I got older, I did my own thing and Brad did his, but if I ever needed help he was there. When Brad retired from the Navy we would see a few movies and eat at some good restaurants after he helped me out at the oil change shop. We still keep in touch by Facebook chat and swap pictures so Big Brother is always watching me!