I met Junky at age nine, and we later had the same teacher in sixth grade. He lived a couple of blocks from me. Although his given name was Jim Gearhart, we all knew him as Junky. I don’t know why. Junky was the younger of two boys, and his parents ran local fruit and vegetable stores.
Junky was my best friend third through sixth grade. He was a very good athlete, and played the shortstop in baseball, the quarterback in football, and the top scoring player in basketball. We played sports together before school, after school, weekends and vacations, and we were often the last ones to leave for the day. Sometimes we played sports at his house, although the lawn was oddly shaped. His brother sometimes joined us, would hit the baseball with a bat, and we stood across the road to catch the ball.
His family sometimes supplied him with food to sell at the roadside, although he usually ate most the sweet candy and kept the money.
He was not a good student. One time, he misspelled the word “it”. He spelled it “t-i”. We had long lunch times at school, and we usually ate as fast as possible so we could play outside. However, he often had to stay inside the school at noon in order to finish his assignments. I would help him, and did much of his writing. Of course, the teacher noticed that the handwriting shape had changed, and told me not to complete Junky’s assignments for him.
We sometimes watched television together. He introduced me to the early days of pro wrestlers.
Occasionally he stole money from his mother’s purse.
One year, his parents supplied us with tickets to the Milwaukee Braves baseball games.
Things changed. After sixth grade we never had classes together, and he struggled in school. He did not make the sports teams – baseball, football, or basketball. I no longer had much of a relationship with him. The last time that visited his house (maybe 7th or 8th grade), he was in the basement with a neighborhood boy who was a bit overweight and a year older. They were playing in the basement, and sheets and towels were hanging from the ceiling. They were both naked (there may have been other boys with them). I quickly went home.
Years later, the neighbor with whom Junky had played naked was arrested, and sent to jail for his illegal sexual activities.
Junky died at age 50 – I do not know the cause of death, or anything about his life after grade school.