Pumps' Perplexities

Back in the decade of the '40s we just loved when the roads
melted......Growing up in New York City during these years,
we children played 'street games'.....Like every game there
may be parts or pieces needed to play.....

We had rubber balls, we had marbles and we had 'homemade'
discs.....These discs were usually bottle caps....Some serrated,
some perfectly smooth......Motts Apple Juice still makes a good
'street disc', 'token' or 'marker'.....

In order to get that athletic 'edge' we would try to find something
to 'fill' the cap with.....The added weight resulted in more control
of your disc, whether it had to be thrown, as in Hop Scotch or
slid, as in Skully......

The best material you could get for your disc was hot, melted
tar from the street.......If you could not get tar for your disc
after a 'pot hole' repair than you waited for that hot summer
day when you could take your little pocket knife, screwdriver
or even olde nail and just scrape it up from the street.......

The only draw back, in those days, was getting it off your
fingers and may God help you your clothing......"Goop" and
"Oops" were not yet invented......Pumps