Bøger af Gene Rackovitch

I give you "Confessions of a Milkman". For twenty five years I drove a milk truck in New York. From retail delivery through wholesale I give you an inside view of the machinations of one of the city's most infamous industry. From union and management coercion to the individual route man who had to learn to survive in a world devoid of ethics, there was no relief. Constant need to be aware of danger taxed both mind and body while serving their routes. There was one crowning factor in the my life as a milkman, the knowing that you could use your body to the fullest, and be appreciative of your compactly to live a full life.

The first years of the forties saw a decline in the need of the impoverished to travel seeking employment: travel was left to those seeking adventure. The legacy left over for our young people by those travelers during the depression was one of high adventure. Trucking was taking hold in the transportation industry. Rail travel (freight hopping) was declining, giving way to an active thumb and willing truckers. The hobo jungles were no longer tolerated, other means of survival evolved, the Salvation Army and the Travelers Aid Society welcomed travelers in need. Young adventurers coming home related tales of the immense expanse and beauty of our country. Tales of gaining employment in the wheat fields of the Midwest, to Georgia and Florida following the harvests, as seaman or stokers on freighters on the great lakes, the terror of rough seas, tales of still nights and inspiring heavens, to full moons engulfing half the horizon; All these tales held us with mouths agape, and fueled in us a need to depart. Pete and I were the recipients of those tales which finally sent us on a three thousand mile adventure. My story starts in early 1940. I and Pete were playing hooky we went to a burlesque on forty second street in New York City, after the show we decided to take the ferry to New Jersey. Ten cents was the fare, it took all the money we had. That was the start of our adventure. Leaving the ferry it was easy to put out our thumbs and take off. Our first lift took us to Camden New Jersey. We found work at a bowling alley that first evening, earned two dollars twenty five cents apiece. A meal of cheese and crackers with a coke left us with eighty cents, a fortune. Picked up by the police in Philly, released, found work in a chicken factory in Delaware, jailed in Carolina, cloudburst in Savannah, disappoint-ment in Florida, no work. Long road back, Salvation Army staves off starvation, panicked by a chain gang. Bed bug and roach infested Salvation Army in Petersburg Virginia, to a spick and span Sally in Washington D.C. Employment in a restaurant on Columbia Avenue. Promotion there from dishwashers to countermen, back to dishwashers again. Missing person's catches up with us, into a house of detention (Jail). Then home. All the people we met enriched us. A character, Andy, in the town of Delton Delaware, introduces us to gin, and his common law wife entices Pete. Harry and Cy two locals challenge the city boys. Sitting in a car on a railroad crossing a train coming in our direction, unnerves all as the car stalls. Truckers run a full spectrum of personalities. A dilapidated plantation is protected by a shotgun wielding black woman. Racism in the detention center brings back memories of a tyrannical father. The experience and contact with these people left both of us with a new perspective on life. Tears, fears, and paranoia dominated at times. Then at other times a small bowl of oatmeal or a cleansing rain fall made us alive again. A mundane life style is set aside as all our senses became acute. The beauty of it all, that grand feeling of being alive ruled.

One of his associates said of Mr. Rackovitch, "He brings you mandum in a grizzly way in his writing." So it is with the hunters in this story they let you into their souls and carry you along as they find that this hunting trip turns out to be more than a week of just hunting deer. Going into town put them on the defensive as the locals there have a way of demanded fealty from the considered intruders of their territory. They take it on their honor to defend each other which causes mayhem in a bar that is further disseminated throughout the town. Their host Frank rather than side with his guests pacifies the offenders by chastising the hunters, which causes a considerable amount of friction. Each hunter opens their mind to the reader some justifying their existence. While others hold fast to revenge to those who put forward derogatory attitudes towards the hunters. There is a final confrontation that puts an end to the hunt and gives the hunters some satisfaction as they depart from a week of odd occurrences'.

A life lived in Queens New York doesn't seem very interesting to most, but to those who lived it, it was a great experience. Some may say that the boys of that day were near lost to society. We did things that would turn the hair gray of our parents if they knew what we were up to at that young age. I would like to say that through it all somehow we or mostly all I write about became stellar citizens. The shady aspect of my personal existence was put under control by my Drill Instructor in the Marine Corps. I show you in the Boys of Flushing how even beside all the craziness that we participated in' we ended up better than most. Maybe not totally stellar, but we carried with us the pride of our neighborhood through sports. I hope reading about us gives you some pleasure as much as it does for us in our memories.

In December 1945, two Japanese soldiers on Guam attempted to surrender to a patrol of US Marines. The marines, assuming them to be armed, shot and killed them. Another Japanese soldier witnessed the incident from the jungle. He fled, and his previous assessment of the treacherous Americans was enhanced. His zeal for retribution became ingrained in his psyche.In September 1946, four marines on a routine patrol on Guam seek renegade Japanese who had been stealing from the outlying villages. They're ambushed, and among the fighters is the zealous Japanese soldier. The incident brings about a chain of events that leaves the reader wondering . . . who are the true renegades? The marines or the Japanese?