Jeannie

Dear Mr. John Hunt,
John, I hope you don't mind me calling you by your first name. My name is Jeannie. I'm now living in Central Falls, but I came from North Providence about three weeks ago, therefore I don't know much about Central Falls. My father, on the other hand, has been living in Central Falls all his life.
In Central Falls the recent things I have seen are: the school I am attending now, which is C.F.H.S., and I've been to my father's garage and the store down the street called Paulette's.
They no longer take basketball as the big entertainment of C.F. Football seems to be in now that it's the season for football.
I've been to Jenks Park a few times. I enjoyed myself. I live right next door to the park.
Since I came, I also met several people. In my opinion, Central Falls is a lot different than North Providence, and the school I attend now is also different. I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to write to a man who knows a lot about a city I am new to. I will eagerly be waiting for your return letter.

Sincerely yours,

Jeannie




Dear Jeannie,
You don't have to worry about calling me John. I prefer that mode of address anyway; it makes me feel old when someone says mister. They say you are only as old as you feel (if that were true, I'd be 101) but I think it's all in the mind. My body is forty-eight, but my mind is as old as I want it to be and when I reminisce about old haunts and old friends and talk with someone of your tender years, I will my mind to become young again. You can do that when you write, you know? The years just melt away, and I am transported to that other me.
Your letter stands out, not because you are so new to Central Falls, but because of your address. You see, my first conscious memory of Central Falls is from a second-story window of an apartment on Washington Street. I must have been four or five years old, so that would put it at about 1944 or 1945. My father was in the Navy in the Pacific, and my mother was raising me and my brother by herself there on Washington Street. I was too young for school, but I used to watch for my brother to come home from first grade. The school was on Washington also and was a Catholic school, and we only spoke French. (My mother is
Canadian French, and I didn’t speak English until I started second grade in another state--but that's another story.)
The walk up in that apartment was a very scary place for a four-year old, especially at night. I still have one very scary memory of a drunk asleep on the stairs grabbing my leg as I tried



to pass him. His stubble beard on my leg (we wore knickers in those days) scared me but not half as much as I must have scared him when I screamed.

I remember going to the store with ration coupons to get butter and flour. There was a corner store (a tobacconist, I think, which might be the store you call Paulette's) I used to pass that store every day. It had an old wooden cigar store Indian statue out front and some old (to me) men used to sit outside on the steps and share a water pipe and the local gossip.
If I'm not mistaken, the streets were cobbled in those days. I remember the iceman delivering ice to the apartments. He'd haul large blocks of ice in his horse-drawn cart. The ice would be under burlap sacks. When you paid him for your ice, he would take his ice pick and chop off an appropriate amount of ice, grab it with his tongs and toss it over his shoulder, and carry it to your apartment. He wore a leather apron.
As you say in your letter, Jenks Park is only a stone's throw away from where you live. When I was young, the pool would be filled with water in the summer and all the little kids like me would play in it. The deepest part was less than three feet deep, what is now called a wading pool. I stubbed many a big toe running around the apron. It used to be pretty scenic to climb to the tower or the gazebo at the top of the rocks and look out and down at those in the park. I understand that it is a bit rundown now, but I'll bet I could still recognize it.



You say football is in season. Well, perhaps so. But if you knew Central Falls like I do, you would know that basketball is year round and the king of sport in that city. I think it always will be.
I certainly hope you will learn to love Central Falls as I did. It has got to be easier to get around than North
Providence; it's a lot smaller, for one thing, and I believe it has an international flavor, what with its diversity of ethnic groups. That's what makes it so interesting.
Well, Jeannie, I want you to write to me again, but please don't make it a school project. It's very difficult answering all these letters at once. If you all spread your letters out over a period of time, I will have time to answer them directly to your address.
Until next time then,

Your new friend,

John E. Hunt