Remember when Jerome Pizzo had his fruit stand on the corner of Third and Canton streets, across the street from Louella Smith’s home? His garden also extended from the corner of Canton Street to Utah Street, exactly one block long.
Jerome Pizzo had five sons, Modeyon, Lawrence, Tony, Frank and Sam. We called them the Marx Brothers because of the way they acted.
The school at that time was where the City Hall is located today. While we were in school, Tony Pizzo would climb up on the top of his house and roll down the roof. We couldn’t see where he landed but we knew that he had to land on something soft. The teacher was just as fascinated with Tony as we were. So, she would let up go to the window and watch his shenanigans.
There was corn, which grew on the entire lot. The Pizzo boys would cut paths through the corn, resembling tunnels. This was a good spot for the U.S. Army to practice for jungle warfare. The Pizzos had about 100 windmills and you could feel the breeze when you passed next to their place.
They also had a dog that they wanted to name “Blue,” so the painted a white dog blue. That very night, there was a rain storm, and “Blue” turned white again.
They also had a Billy goat whose name was “Fato,” which meant “stinky.” If you ever stooped down and he saw you, he would butt you in the rear. Every time Mrs. Jerome Pizzo would stoop over to wash clothes on the washboard, Fato would butt her. She told her son, Tony, to get rid of that goat or she was going to kill it and was “gonna putti di goati in a de icea boxi.”
There was also a pointed picket fence all around the Pizzo property that was made from cypress. Everybody would strip that fence for sticks to make kites. One day, Modeyon climbed a Hackberry tree near the picket fence. When he reached the top of the tree a branch broke and Modeyon came plummeting down, falling on the pointed picket fence. That must have been a real pain in the butt; Modeyon couldn’t sit down for six months.
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My wife sang in church last week and 100 people changed their religion.
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T-Jay Aucoin from Belle River went fishing in Lake Palourde in his boat. The wind started blowing hard and turned the boat over and T-Jay fell in the lake. T-Jay said that he lost his Viagra pills when he fell into the lake and that they all melted.
And for a long time after that you couldn’t find any soft shell crabs in the lake.
* The End *