SODAPOPBOB
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~ A SODA POP STORY ~
(Part Fact - Mostly Fiction)
By:
Robert C. Brown
Copyright: October 15, 2010
　
I was born in San Diego, California in 1901, and grew up on my families chicken ranch in the country east of the city. I had three older brothers and a sister. Everyone called me “Little Bobby†at the time, which was a name I never particularly liked, but I was stuck with it until I was about ten. Although I don’t recall very much before I was about five years of age, my parents told me later it was a very exciting time to be born. But a few things I do remember. Things like playing with a cast iron bank that was shaped like a whale and a man named Jonah got swallowed up every time I put a penny in it and activated the little lever. I really loved that toy bank and wish I still had it. Another thing I remember is looking through a book that had all of these amazing illustrations in it. It was titled “The Wizard of Oz,†and although it was published in 1900, the copy I had at the time was a first edition and was like brand new. I still have that old book, and whenever I thumb through it these days my childhood memories come flooding back to me.
When I started school in 1906 I learned how to read and write, and by the time I was six I could write my name in cursive just like the older kids were doing. My kindergarten teacher said I was the best writer in my class, and she even gave me a gold star once that I always had pined on my shirt until I lost it one day in the playground. I went back and looked for it on numerous occasions, but I never did find it.
It was around 1910 when I started reading in earnest. I can’t remember exactly how many books I read back then, but I know it was a lot. My favorite one of all was by a man named Jack London, and the book was titled “The Call of the Wild.†I think it was first published in 1903. I also liked other books that dealt with history and stuff. It was from those books that I learned about all the amazing events and incredible inventions that were so popular at the time. Some of the more memorable events I recall reading about were things like the Wright Brother’s first flight in 1903. And then there was the building of the Panama Canal that was still under construction at the time, but not completed until 1914. In 1911 when I was in the fourth grade and ten years old , I wrote an entire five page book report about the earthquake that occurred in San Francisco in 1906. I got an A+ on that report and my parents were very proud of me.
I think it was the inventions I liked reading about the most. In 1903 a man by the last name of Ford invented a car, and by 1908 it seemed like everyone had one. I can still remember the first car my father brought home in 1909. We were the first family in our neighborhood to have one, and we loved riding in that car more than anything. It even had a horn that my dad used to let me honk, especially if there was a stray chicken in the road, which there seemed to be a lot of back then. But it was never our chickens that got out. Starting at about the age of ten it was my main chore to inspect and maintain the fences that surrounded our property. It was a rare occasion that a chicken got out, or a varmint got in.
But it wasn’t all work and no play back then. My family loved baseball, and even though there wouldn’t be a professional team in San Diego until the Padres got their start in 1936, my oldest brother played shortstop on his high school team, and we went to every home game, which were always played on a Friday. I remember one game in particular because it was the first time I recall ever drinking Coca Cola. Normally we just made our own root beer at home that we concocted from Hire’s extract and bottled and corked ourselves.
(Part Fact - Mostly Fiction)
By:
Robert C. Brown
Copyright: October 15, 2010
　
I was born in San Diego, California in 1901, and grew up on my families chicken ranch in the country east of the city. I had three older brothers and a sister. Everyone called me “Little Bobby†at the time, which was a name I never particularly liked, but I was stuck with it until I was about ten. Although I don’t recall very much before I was about five years of age, my parents told me later it was a very exciting time to be born. But a few things I do remember. Things like playing with a cast iron bank that was shaped like a whale and a man named Jonah got swallowed up every time I put a penny in it and activated the little lever. I really loved that toy bank and wish I still had it. Another thing I remember is looking through a book that had all of these amazing illustrations in it. It was titled “The Wizard of Oz,†and although it was published in 1900, the copy I had at the time was a first edition and was like brand new. I still have that old book, and whenever I thumb through it these days my childhood memories come flooding back to me.
When I started school in 1906 I learned how to read and write, and by the time I was six I could write my name in cursive just like the older kids were doing. My kindergarten teacher said I was the best writer in my class, and she even gave me a gold star once that I always had pined on my shirt until I lost it one day in the playground. I went back and looked for it on numerous occasions, but I never did find it.
It was around 1910 when I started reading in earnest. I can’t remember exactly how many books I read back then, but I know it was a lot. My favorite one of all was by a man named Jack London, and the book was titled “The Call of the Wild.†I think it was first published in 1903. I also liked other books that dealt with history and stuff. It was from those books that I learned about all the amazing events and incredible inventions that were so popular at the time. Some of the more memorable events I recall reading about were things like the Wright Brother’s first flight in 1903. And then there was the building of the Panama Canal that was still under construction at the time, but not completed until 1914. In 1911 when I was in the fourth grade and ten years old , I wrote an entire five page book report about the earthquake that occurred in San Francisco in 1906. I got an A+ on that report and my parents were very proud of me.
I think it was the inventions I liked reading about the most. In 1903 a man by the last name of Ford invented a car, and by 1908 it seemed like everyone had one. I can still remember the first car my father brought home in 1909. We were the first family in our neighborhood to have one, and we loved riding in that car more than anything. It even had a horn that my dad used to let me honk, especially if there was a stray chicken in the road, which there seemed to be a lot of back then. But it was never our chickens that got out. Starting at about the age of ten it was my main chore to inspect and maintain the fences that surrounded our property. It was a rare occasion that a chicken got out, or a varmint got in.
But it wasn’t all work and no play back then. My family loved baseball, and even though there wouldn’t be a professional team in San Diego until the Padres got their start in 1936, my oldest brother played shortstop on his high school team, and we went to every home game, which were always played on a Friday. I remember one game in particular because it was the first time I recall ever drinking Coca Cola. Normally we just made our own root beer at home that we concocted from Hire’s extract and bottled and corked ourselves.
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