Editor's note:

Rudy was also a member of "The Four Diamonds"

Skip to Rudy's latest anecdote . . . . . .

One night, Gilbert d'Mattos had taken his girlfriend home from the movies in the Lago Heights club. He then joined the other two of the terrible threesome, Fred Dirksz and myself, and together we walked to Gilbert's home (#615). It was only when we entered the house from the dark night outside, that everyone noticed that Gil's girlfriend must've smooched all over him; his face was covered in lipstick!

And when Gil's Mom, Reina, came into the living room and exclaimed "Gilbertje!!", we decided that it was hight time to haul our whatsits outta there!!

Editor's note:

Several years previous to this Gil's attitude to the smooch was slightly different . . . . . (see Gil's Recollections)

And . . . . some other matinee anecdotes . . .

Fred, he must have been fifteen or sixteen at the time, was told by his Mom, Editha, not to bother the "jack-spaniards" (or "maribombas", the ubiquitous wasps) in the "shimarucu" tree at the front of their house (1038). But Fred, being his stubborn self, thought he knew better. While poking in the tree with a stick, the nest of the wasps fell to the ground and the jack-spaniards, angered, decided to attack the culprit who ruined their home. Fred, in other words. (Edwin, Fred's kid brother, had already put some distance between himself and the scene of the crime).

The place where the attack was focussed was . . . . . Fred's lower lip.
So for days after that Fred was walking around, not able to articulate properly, and with a huge "lip di taira" (tractor-tire lip)!!!

There was a guy living "behind the fence" who would steal anything that was not nailed to the ground (and even then he would use a hammer!!) I won't mention his name, because he may now be an outstanding citizen. I have two stories on this guy .

I had tied my kite to the clothes line pole and was chatting with Oswald Kadim at his house. Oswald suddenly noticed that my kite was further than he had seen it. Our young friend had stolen my kite and was walking home.
We hauled tail after him and when caught he told us that he was only borrowing it.

Another time I was sure he had stolen an item from my yard. Well, he and his sister were coming over the little bridge over the pipe between 926 and 927 houses. (I have some great stories about that bridge (grin)). Well, I accosted (ahem) the crook and told him that Oswald Kadim and I would come to his house to check out his yard. His answer:
"If ayou come in ouwa yad, we gong backle ayou"

Ozzie and I burst out in laughter. that was King's english.

Editor's note:

Check out Ozzie's version. If you realize that all this happened some forty years ago, then you start getting some respect for these guys' grey matter . . . .

Oswald had a large dog name Prince. One day Hugo Sharpe (917) and Tichi Amaya (915) were walking past Oswald's house and they saw Prince in the front yard. They froze (Prince was known to occasionally attack young folks). All Hugo could say was:
"Hoeloe, what a big dog!".

Anyone knows where "Hooloe" comes from?

Editor's note:

The word probably comes from the Papiamento "Holó" which means smell or scent. It is used as an exclamation of astonishment or surprise. . . . .

Romaldo Coffi (1026) was an avid cigar smoker. The discarded butts of those cigars were called "cabitos". Anyhow, one day Oswald and I decided to take some of those cabitos behind the little bridge and have a smoke.

The rest story was told to me by Romaldo himself, so I'm quoting him.
He had seen smoke coming from behind the little bridge, so he went out to investigate. There he saw two green and sick little boys with the cabitos (I don't know if this was so, because I was too sick to remember). Romaldo never told our parents about this incident. That's why I liked him!

Another time around Christmas with our parents away, Ralph Benschop and I went to his house to have a cocktail like the way he had seen his father make one. He took a bit out of EVERY botlle and poured that into a large glass. This we shared. And although we thought the stuff tasted like CRAP, we kept on drinking, saying:
"Cool stuff, man!"

Later, drunk as a skunk, I stumbled over to the little bridge, and there Romaldo found me, leaning over the side. He took me home, where my father said:
"You'll get your punishment tomorrow", which I did. This gave me a lot of respect for hangovers. But it never prevented me to have an occasional one afterwards (grin).

Editor's note:

I don't actually remember ever having seen Rudy in a state of inebriation.
But, if the Aruba reunion comes about . . . . I may be tempted to slip him a "mickey finn" and get still more stories out of him . . . . .
Below is a story, not told by Rudy, but in which he and my brother Fred involved.

Sinterklaas
Sinterklaas, for those who don't know, is a Dutch children's feast, celebrating the birthday of St. Nicholas. Sinterklaas, in full bishop's outfit, and his helpers, the "Zwarte Pieten" (Black Peters) visit schools around the 5th of December. This feast is especially popular, because children who are well-behaved during the whole year (this is written in Sinterklaas' thick book) are rewarded at this time with presents and sweets. On the other hand, the children who had been mischievous are punished and could be taken to Spain, by Sinterklaas' aides (Zwarte Pieten, or Black Peters). It never occurred to us as kids that punishment of being taken to the Costa del Sol is somewhat a contradictio in terminis.

Anyway, when I was in the third grade of the St. Augustinus primary school, Sinterklaas and his helpers came to visit. All of a sudden, two of the Zwarte Pieten burst into our classroom, and after having doled out sweets and mandarin oranges, they accosted (to use Rudy's term) me, the saint of the class (at least, that had been my impression until that moment). Because of the black make-up (as kids we didn't know this) I didn't realize that these two were none other than Rudy and Fred (my own brother, for goodness' sake). I was manhandled into a bag and taken to the staff's room to await my banishment to Spain.

After sweating it out for what seemed an eternity, but probably not longer than a few minutes, I decided to explore the room, which was prohibited territory for the pupils. Opening the fridge, I found me a treasure trove of goodies (teachers' sandwiches, fruit, drink and desserts), which I proceeded to stuff myself with (my gallows meal, seeing my pending departure to the Mediterranean shores).

It should surprise no one that this was a one-off thing. Even Sinterklaas couldn't get permission to have children locked up in the staff's room after this. And, I couldn't remember receiving any additional punishment either . . . . .

There's a fitting Arabian proverb:
"He who takes revenge before forty years, acts in haste . . . . "

New story:
When I was twelve, I used to sneak a lot to the beach at Grape Field with a gang to go swimming (of course without parental permission). Well, I did not take good care of my hair with salt water, etc. in it.
Who had ever heard of shampoo at the age of twelve! My hair was pretty rough looking (like dead grass!). If I saw a buricu I used to run since it thought I was carrying grass on my head.
Well this "friend" of mine named Freddy Dirksz and I had heard that if you shave your head clean, the hair would grow back nice. So we went to the barber named Gordon in San Nicolas to have it done. Well my "friend" talked me into going first and when he saw my bald head he chickened and only took a crew cut.

Meneer Degen, our school teacher, called me "calvo" and Fred "semi-calvo" until the hair grew back. It did grow back better though.
Moral, never trust a friend to shave his head for you (grin). Needless to say I was the laughing stock at school for quite a while, so I wore a navy cap.