Frank Howard was a young man Who grew up in the little cove He was five or six years older than me Maybe even older than that He had a bicycle, the only one I knew in the cove. Frank would ride me around the cove On his bicycle almost every day I would sit sideways on the crossbar He would race by the schoolhouse Try to make Thomas Hill without stopping. The short stretch of road between the top of the hill And Uncle Mike Kelly's gate was full of potholes It was rough going sitting on the crossbar But it was fun and we laughed all the way to Alice May's little shop over all those bumps. Years later Frank got his first car It was really old, the 'Tin Lizzie' he called it I was told, many years later in life, that it was A Model A Ford. It had narrow tires not Much bigger than the ones on his bike. I don't know if he had a drivers license Or not, there weren't many cars around And policemen were nowhere to be seen He and some of the Kelly boys his age Would go down to Grates Cove in the evening. I really missed riding his bike One day he said that he would give Me and ride in his car if I wanted to I couldn't wait for the time to come Frank said he would stop by that evening. Just after supper he drove over the lane Down from Nan's house and blew the horn The horn sounded very funny in the quiet evening I ran down the narrow path from Nan's house Some of the Kelly boys were in the car with Frank. I was so excited to get a ride in the car But just as I put my hand on the door handle Of the back passenger door, the car backfired There was this frighteningly loud band which was Made worse by the echo in the cove. Well I was scared, but not stiff, cause I ran back up the hill in a flash Don't think my little feet touched the ground Faster than a bullet, in Nan's front door, up the Stairs and under the bed next to the pee pot. Think I was shaking like a leaf Nan didn't know what was going on Of course I was in no shape to tell her Frank and the boys in the car were laughing For days after that, I guess it did look funny. I never did get a ride in the car Frank offered many times but there was No way I was going anywhere near that car I did play in it a few times years later When it was rusting away in Ronald's back yard. by Cyril Griffin New Perlican, NL