When not thinking up intricate ways in which to elude the Nazis or trying to escape the icy, winter winds of the South Bronx Prairie, Lila and some last-ditch cronies from the next door apartment house play hide-and-seek on stair landings. They maneuver bikes and scooters in small, square hallways pretending they’re motorcycles, then solemnly revere Howdy Doody's fitful little image in the late afternoons; oh raffish early muppet, harbinger of the decline of the attention span with the power of near hypnosis! Howdy, whose entire name oddly means “Hello Feces,” Buffalo Bob and Clarabel comprise an uncanny cross between Punch 'n Judy, Fellini and secondary characters from a bad B Western, but the kids are not put off. They cheer insanely as the odd, happy crew manufactures instant mayhem in the Peanut Gallery.
. . . the commotion from the apartment above mysteriously subsides; there is complete silence from the other side of the ceiling. A frosty, pre-ozone depleted January sets in during that time when winters often plunged below freezing, and there are many more old movies being shown on TV; images of Joel McCrea, John Garfield and Dorothy Lamour are added to the little screen. Slowly over several weeks, the last clumps of blackened, peed-on snow will melt along the curbs, and a fragrant, misleading thaw will ensue. Once again, sounds are detected overhead in 4-C. . . .
. . . the commotion from the apartment above mysteriously subsides; there is complete silence from the other side of the ceiling. A frosty, pre-ozone depleted January sets in during that time when winters often plunged below freezing, and there are many more old movies being shown on TV; images of Joel McCrea, John Garfield and Dorothy Lamour are added to the little screen. Slowly over several weeks, the last clumps of blackened, peed-on snow will melt along the curbs, and a fragrant, misleading thaw will ensue. Once again, sounds are detected overhead in 4-C. . . .
