The neighborhood directory has the spelling as Mr. Sitarsky. just an fyi for us all.

More to come Margaret

When I was about 9, I had bow and arrow that I would usually shoot in the woods. The bow was small and the arrows had the rounded metal tips.

You couldn’t really shoot an arrow in Salem Ridge because the houses were pretty close together. But I discovered one day that I could shoot them lightly straight up. It was fun because they would stop at a certain point, and, as they began to descend, the feathers would cause the arrow to swing around so that the tip was pointing down again. I could watch the arrows and simply step out of the way to let them stick in the ground near me. It was all very safe (duh!!!???) because I could follow the arrows trajectory.

But, as you can imagine, my curiosity began to test how high I could shoot them, and I discovered, after some tries, that I could shoot them high enough that they would completely disappear. Then it was a bit of a challenge to wait a few seconds before it would appear again on its way down, allowing me to quickly step out of the way.

So, one time the arrow never came down. I looked for it al over– in the bushes. Couldn’t find it. Suddenly Mr. Sitarski appeared and, beckoning to me, said, “Obie, I’d like to show you something.” I followed him, and there was my arrow, hanging by it’s feathers from the middle of the cloth roof of his screen porch. The metal tip was about three feet from the ground, meaning, of course, that, had someone been standing there, the arrow would have gone into his head!!!

I was horrified and stumbled through a “never do that again” kind of apology. He didn’t raise his voice or scold or anything. He just pulled the arrow out, handed it to me, and told me to be more careful.

As I thought about it later, this surprised me, as I had always seen him as an intimidating kind of guy.

That was the end of it. When I told my parents the story (decades later), they said they never knew about it. It deepened my respect for Mr. Sitarski tremendously. Now I view him as a very admirable character.

I pretty much recall that I put the bow and arrow away for good after that learning experience. I’ve also heard stories of boys who were killed playing that little game.

So, Mr. Sitarski, wherever you are, THANK YOU!!!

I’ll take some time to add comments and look for some shots here too. Thanks again!! Obie