Watermeelo!

When I assigned “The Best Job I Ever Had” as a topic for the memoir classes I lead, two writers in one class came back with essays about jobs they had when they were 11 years old. Last week’s post featured excerpts from Hugh’s essay about putting paper Trains together in 1942, and today I’m sharing excerpts from the piece his fellow writer Bob Eisenberg wrote about another unusual job during that decade.

Bob Eisenberg is not only a good writer, he’s a great artist, too.

Bob starts his essay explaining that when he was eleven, his family rented an apartment right across the hall from a man who had his own business pedaling fruit and junk items from a horse and wagon. One morning at the end of the school year, their neighbor stopped Bob to say He needed a helping hand on his wagon. “He asked if I new anyone who wanted a job,” Bob wrote. . “I jumped at the chance – I pointed to myself and said ‘Me!’” From Bob’s essay:

The start of my work day was my favorite part. I’d get the big brown work horse out of his stall and guide him into the alley. Then I’D pull out the empty wooden wagon and attach the long wooden wagon poles to the horse. I’d sit in the driver’s seat THEN AND WAIT for Mr. Dunn.

First stop? South Water Market. “Our journey started with me holding the reins and driving, Mr. Dunn sitting RIGHT THERE next to me guiding me all the way,” Bob wrote, explaining that Mr. Dunn took over the reins once they arrived at the market. “He guided the horse into the stall so we could load our watermelons properly.”

Once the watermelons were loaded and paid for, they headed back to their “Little Italy” neighborhood, just south and west of downtown Chicago. Again, from Bob’s essay:

Mr. Dunn drove the horse and wagon through the alleys WHILE I stood up in the back of the wagon, cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled, “WATAMEELO!” People ran down stairs from their back porches to buy our watermelons. We talked and laughed with everybody and shared news of the day as we heard it from people along the way.

Bob worked with Mr. Dunn all summer and earned 20 cents for each watermelon sold.  “Buy the end of the day, I felt like I was wealthy.” When summer turned to fall, they turned to buying instead of selling. “I stood in the back of the wagon and yelled, “RAGSALION!” which meant rags and old iron,” he wrote. “People came running down from their porches with old cloths, old pots and pans and all sorts of junk they wanted to get rid of.” “Everything Bob and Mr. Dunn collected was taken to the junk yard and sold. “At the end of the day I was exhausted, but very happy,” bob wrote. “My first job gave me the feeling of self worth and independence at a very young age.”