Pool Instead of School

My parents always provided for me and my siblings. We never did without. But we were not wealthy. A big family was expensive to keep. My next brother up was my best friend. I was always safe with him. He would look after me and he was tough. Still is. I loved him when we were kids, still do.

My brother would defend me and would get into trouble all the time. He copped many a cane for me. Sometimes we would wag school because the kids were mean to me. School didn't worry about us being absent as long as you didn't do it too often. We would wag once a week. I was way ahead anyway. It was annoying for me to have to wait for the other kids to catch up with schoolwork. There wasn't the schooling of nowadays. I was bored. My reports were always As and Bs, though the teachers always mentioned that I used to disrupt the other kids. My brother's report card would be mainly Cs or Fs.

When we wagged we would go to the pool hall. The owner, a Greek, didn't care that we were just two kids. Things were different then. He practically adopted my brother and I. My brother would lift me up so I could play. He found out how to make money by getting people to bet. It was great fun.