The Bomb

Bomb shelters? Yes, we really did have them. Ours was a make-shift one in out basement on Tholozan. We had a huge basement which had two separate rooms within it. One was a root cellar, which was about as big as a small bathroom. Inside, the stone wall was as it was when it

was built, in the 30's. The other separate room had been installed probably in the 50's

because it had wood paneling on the out side and inside, a more modern door, but no

electrical outlets. So this was our bomb shelter. Sometimes there were blankets down there,

but I don't remember if we even went so far as stocking it with canned goods, flashlights,

or water. Remember, we had to put kitchen sink water into some kind of sealed pitcher,

not easily available in the 50's, when Tupperware was yet to be invented.

The best bomb shelter I ever saw was Joe and Alberta's. Their son, Bruce, was about the

same age as me. It was his effort that made it into a luxury bomb shelter. Their house on

Newport had a sub-basement. Now that's underground.

He had equipped it with old chairs and a sofa. Also, he had cans, dishes, tableware and even

water in glass pitchers with foil on top. I don't know if it would have much good in case of

a nuclear attack, but it was fun to go down there and hang out.

At school, they told us that if we saw a bright light, we should get under our desk and cover

our heads. Every time I saw the reflection of a passing car I was tempted to duck and cover,

at home or school. It now amazes me that we were so naive we believed that would keep us

from being vaporized, especially when kids were killed ducking and covering in the school

halls during tornados.

Sister Hilda had a thick German accent and had convinced the third graders that if the

Russians came over they would kill us for believing in God. You will have to become a

martyr just because you believe in Jesus, she would warn. I thought to myself, Jesus?

Jesus who?

Between bombs and being a martyr I lost a lot of sleep when I was in third grade. I don't

think the Ruskies are as keen on killing us as they were back then and thank God bombs

are a thing of the past.