I started this in Feburary. I wanted to finish the whole story now, but was afraid everyone would forget by now about this. So I'm reprinting yet another blog (Hey it's summer, time for reruns.) Tomorrow I'll finally finish where I was going with this after 4 months.

TV can be a bad influence on a weak mind.
Directly across the street from us in Kewanee were two households that had a total of 7 Teenage girls. Three Draminski girls and four Shinkevich girls. This meant that during the summer of 1975 Geno and John couldn't walk out the front door without sticking their chests out and sucking in their stomachs. If one or more of the girls were actually outside sun bathing Geno and John would make excuses up to get into fights with each other just to try and impress those girls.
Geno and John could be laughing and joking with each other about something they saw on Monty Python or a movie they had seen, but the instant one of them saw a girl across the street they'd jump on the others back and begin to wail away. The minute the girl would vanish out of sight they'd stop and start talking again like nothing had happened.
As late spring progressed into early summer their bruises began to mount up. As did their ripped shirts and torn jeans. Everyone began to joke about how much they were fighting to impress the girls across the street. Dad had even began to take their fighting as routine. (However one time he did go outside and spray them down with a hose to make them stop.)
Everything began to get more then a little silly the day John watched an old movie from the 1950's called Ivanhoe.
Ivanhoe was one of those old movies about Knights and Jousting. (Actually it had a lot more to do with that, but all John saw were guys riding around on horses with long sticks slamming into other guys riding around on horses with long sticks.) At the end of the movie the hero and villain Joust over the fate of a woman they both love.
John thought that was just the coolest thing he had ever saw. The next day I saw him sitting outside on the back porch staring at his ten speed bike. I knew he was deep in thought because every now and then he would scratch his head and frown.
The next day everyone on our block was treated to the sight of John on his bike (Which he had spray painted silver with black letters that said Silverstreak) with a trash can lid for a shield and a push broom for a Lance racing against Geno on his old crappy bike with just an old mop for a lance. They started about 5 houses away from each other and peddled rapidly towards each other. With a loud bang they crashed into each other and John went flying from his bike.
Miraculously John was unharmed. (I know if I had been involved there would be a mop sticking out of my head to this day.) Geno stood over him and taunted him for falling off his bike. To my amazement the neighbor girls instead of seeing this as the heights of stupidity, actually seemed to be impressed with them. This of course just encouraged them on.
Soon Geno and John were "jousting " with their friends Charlie and Joe, the Lasky boys, and at least one of Vinny the Vampire's kids. (I know it would be a simple matter of looking up his real name, but for almost 30 years I've only thought of him as Vinny the Vampire so why change now?) Despite their best monkey like attempts of being safe, injuries began to mount. Black eyes and bruises soon began to spread among all the contestants. However the two worst injuries were not caused by themselves but by me.
My dog Duke would watch the jousting matches behind the fence in the back yard. His barking would get louder and louder as the day went on. One day for no apparent reason I can remember I let Duke out in the middle of one of the matches. It was Geno against Charlie. Duke ran straight for Charlie. When Charlie saw Duke heading straight towards him he began to peddle as fast as he could away from my dog.
Unfortunately for Charlie he was going up a slight hill.
And he was a little fat.
Duke pounced on Charlie and his ten speed and they all fell over in a loud crash. Charlie landed right on his face and didn't move. As my brothers and the other boys ran towards them Duke began to shake the bike's back tire back and forth in his mouth.
When my Mom and Dad found out what was going on they were furious. Dad suggested only brain dead idiots would crash bikes together on a busy street like we lived on. He demanded that they stop at once.
So of course the next day the jousting matches were held in the alleyway behind the house.
Again for no clear reason I can think of I did something very bad. I had gotten the idea from another movie called the Great Escape. I had already tried it out on my best friend George to great success. (Well for me anyway. George was less then thrilled.)
As Geno and John were racing towards each other down our alleyway I pulled tight a rope I had tied to a pole across the alley road. Geno ran smack into it. Unfortunately for Geno I had misjudged where it should go and it caught him right about the eyes. His head was pulled back and he went flying from his bike to the ground below him.
John saw the rope go tight in front of him and veered out of it's way. Sadly for John he steered his bike right into Dad's parked car.
I almost made into the back door before they caught up to me and began to beat the living crud out of me. Of course this was just the right time for Dad to look out the back door.
When it was all over we were all punished. I was punished for nearly decapitating one of my brothers. Geno was punished for still doing those stupid jousting matches. John was punished for still doing those stupid jousting matches and for putting a big dent into the side of Dad's car. I was punished once again for making John put a big dent into the side of Dad's car.
Mom and Dad decided they needed some time away from all of us. Of course them going on a vacation and leaving us at home wasn't even worth considering. So Geno and John were shipped of to stay with some relatives for a week or so. (Dad split them up. Geno went to one of Mom's brothers, and John went to one of Dad's brothers.) I was looking forward to going to one of my cousins house when Dad informed me I would be going to Summer Camp for two weeks.
I was stupid enough to think I might actually enjoy myself there.