In 1939, Dad gave me a dollar bill to buy my own Christmas present. I had a whole dollar to buy anything I wanted! I was rich. Dad had a job helping build a dam for President Roosevelt’s rural electrification project. I could wear store-bought clothes and go to picture shows on Saturday.
I bought a tommy gun that you could wind up and spew sparks at girls and other enemies of a 10-year-old boy. When Dad saw me shooting sparks at my little sister he grabbed my gun, threw it on the sidewalk and stomped it. I can still see his boot furiously destroying the best Christmas present I ever had.