Thorncrest Village ~ The Early Days

Can You Come Out to Play?

My friend Richard had a neighbourhood friend, Ronnie Smith. Ronnie lived beside the Lamberts. One day Richard asked Ronnie to go to my home and deliver a message to me. We had built a new and better fort and less susceptible to burning down. Richard wanted me to come to the fort. Ronnie came to our house, knocked on the door. My mother answered the door and asked Ronnie what he wanted. Ronnie delivered the message to my mother! “Richard wants Gary to come to the fort for a SMOKE.” Shortly after that the only thing that was “SMOKING” was my “BOTTOM”. (you, get the picture). That was the end of my trips to the “fort’ for a smoke with Richard! Unfortunately, not many years after that my mother relented and allowed me to smoke in front of her (not my father). That habit lasted until May 31, 1974. I’ll tell later how I stopped smoking and never smoked again. I believe my stopping then helped to save my life later.