Circa '74-75... I was between 5 and 6.

When my dad would pack my school lunch, he'd boil hot dogs, and put them in a thermos filled with hot chicken soup, and then put buns or bread in the dry side for later eating. He packed his own lunches the same way. Oftentimes, he'd put a note and some sort of goody in there too, like a comic book digest. I think that's where I picked up my "reading at the table" habit.

I brown-bagged it a lot, but when I did have a few lunchboxes. I remember having a speed buggy (Vroom-a-zoom-zoom! Everything is more entertaining in Portuguese!) one in first grade, and it was my third-most treasured possession that I could take to school after my St. Christopher medal (which shared a chain with a lime green teardrop-shaped peace symbol charm) and Pencil box with the built-in sharpener. (That contained about 10 army men, cleverly hidden inside a Ziploc bag at the bottom.



Mine was a lot more banged-up... When I was a little kid I could be pretty rough on stuff that I perceived as "invulnerable", and that was one of the few metal Items I had, short of a Tonka truck. As far as I was concerned, that aluminum food-holder was also a wonderful steel maul, designed to be spun around on my windmilling arms. The clip on the box must've been really stout, because it only ever flew open once, sending the thermos and whatever else was left over in there into the stratosphere, arcing nicely overhead and landing across the street, in the bushes. On reflection, the first time I ever jaywalked may've been to retrieve it. Since I was in Brockton, (near Holbrook) at the time, St. Christopher must've been keeping an eye on me after all.



Recalling that old Tonka Toy... it was originally the bright Tonka Yellow, but as time went by, it got a little rusty and sharp. Rather than let his kid play with a little tetanus trap like that, the old man sanded off the rust, sealed it, and spray-painted it with the colors he had in the garage. Since there was no canary yellow, he went with a reflective orange, which I thought was just awesome as a kid. (Later, He'd give it another treatment with silver, which wasn't as cool, but I liked it at the time.) That truck was a part of my toy box until I was at least 10 or 11. It was more than a dirt-dumper... it also served as a troop-superhero carrier, and a "hot wheels" caddy. It wasn't my all-time favorite vehicle, but it was certainly the most durable and in my top 5. If the Hulk or Spider-man toys were going to get run over by a large vehicle, that's was the one to call. It also showed up to any "flaming building" scenarios, despite having no hose, a good fist on the back could lob pinecones or dirt at any offending fires.

Something not readily visible is the fact that the driver's compartment was walled in with clear plastic. It was probably an hour before I'd popped out one of the windows, so an army man or other-sized toy could be allowed to drive.

I think that truck ended up with my cousin Russell (the one who was married recently) with a load of our old toys when Uncle Bob and Val moved into the place they had in Hypoluxo. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some kid in Florida still playing with that truck, fifth-hand, maybe painted olive green, or recolored to its original Tonka hue.