Chapter 13 - Ray's Stolen Chevy

CHAPTER 13

MEMORY LANE -- RAY CELANO 1958 -- RIP

Ray Celano was a wonderful friend, coworker and neighbor

This is one of those stories that in some ways one wishes never happened and yet in other ways glad they did happen, as it was an accidental occurrence and not intensionally created..........It developed in the summer of 1958 about a year before I met my wonderful wife Elizabeth...........

This story struck a nerve in my mind when I was viewing films from Robert Deniros' AFI Life Achievement Award that was recently given to this great actor in 2003.......My mind was jogged by a skit that Robin Williams was referring to in his presentation near the end of his tribute to Deniro when he mentioned the words, "I broke........" during his presentation......

These words suddenly brought me back to the summer of 1958 when a co-worked of mine and myself went on a double date with two young ladies [also co-workers] to a night club in New Jersey....Although I knew the young lady I was dating that night, my friend Ray had set up this date for me through the young lady that he was with that evening.....All was going wonderful that evening and I can recall that the four of us were dancing when Ray suddenly suggested that we all sit down at our table and that the two of us arm wrestle each other.....I have no idea what had prompted this suggestion nor what was going thru his mind at that time as all was going perfectly well......We did not have that many drinks that evening that would have prompted this matter to occur nor did we have any sour words for each other before going into this strong arm wrestling........Ray was somewhat shorter than me but not to the point where he would have felt offended by our difference in height.......All I knew was that he wanted to arm wrestle......

Anyway, in order to please my friend Ray with his sudden suggestion I agreed to sit and proceed with the arm wrestling that he had prompted.......We sat at our table and I recall that we both had put our right hands together and we were about to start this wrestling suggestion when he suddenly said that instead of using our hands we were to each use our middle finger in this contact sport......I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by using only our middle fingers as the only way I ever did this sport was by hand to hand engagement.....I questioned his/our ability to use only our finger in this sport and he put out his middle finger telling me to do the same which I did........We engaged our fingers and slowly began this unknown sport for me, by starting to turn our hands each in the opposite direction......I could feel the pressure being exerted to our fingers as we slowly turned our hands.....I was wondering what was going thru his mind as we started this battle of finger power.........Why would he want to do it in this manner..?........The questions in my mind were becoming exhausting but we continued to turn each others hand, applying more and more pressure as we slowly turned and turned..........

At this point I would like to mention that Ray and I were also neighbors in Staten Island and that we would travel together many times over the years by ferry to Manhattan where we both were employed at the same company....We would get to know each other sharing many stories together and become close friends...We would help each other with job related ideas as we both worked together for the same company.....I can also remember helping Ray to buy a used automobile from a location at work.......I can recall when this auto was stolen from a location where he had parked it for the day by the ferry when traveling to work and Ray telling me about his stolen car that day.......I can also recall a few weeks later on my returning from work and spotting his stolen car in Staten Island, calling him at home, picking him up from his house, driving back to his car and stealing (tongue in cheek) his car back........Only to have this stolen car story occur all over again a few weeks later and than stealing it back again [funny but all true]....Can you imagine to have a car stolen twice probably by the same individual and than stealing it back twice all in a matter of less than a couple of weeks......It was never reported to the police nor did he ever find out who stole his car, not only once but twice....But he never would park in that area again.......There are many stories I could relay here but I'm afraid that I must continue with the original subject in this autobiography........[finger wrestling]......

.......As we were turning our hands to the point of no return it happened..........His f@#king finger [pardon my french] would completely turn in my finger, I would hear a snap and than also feel a snap only to pull away as fast as I could, begging and asking Ray if he was ok.......He looked perplexed but said he was ok.......After assuring me that he was fine I reluctantly got up and continued to dance with my date.........While dancing with my partner I looked back at Ray and I could see him probably going into shock as he was perspiring and appeared to be ready to pass out........

I am unable to recall the exact next events that occurred that evening .......... [maybe I too was going into shock...? ]........But I do recall the next time we would be at work he came in with his hand all bandaged up as his finger was broken in several places............. This story happened approximately 53 years ago..............

Should you wish to view this very funny tribute to Deniro and hear the words spoken by Robin, that would awaken my thoughts to this story, than click on the link/video below.......Nick..........6/25/2011