Running the Streets..Queens Blvd.,Jamaica Ave..at midnite...

Lets see 1973-74. I was 13-14 years old. and my I had a friend whose Dad lived in Forest Hills, NY. We  would go every weekend . She had been born and raised there so she had a bunch of close friends. Once her parents divorced,  she moved to the town I was in. That's how we met.. She was a Big girl, and Tall too.. and we met in class, and became good friends. So, we would go into the city, and hang-out under the train tracks. Smoking, and drinking Colt 45's.. and Strawberry Knots Farm  wine..(yuk).. Hanging with our buddy's, Frankie, and Tony and Steve.. My friend liked Steve. SO he was off limits.. not only to me but any girl that looked his way.. Many  of times.. fights would break out. !! We weren't afraid.. We should have been.. Those streets were just as mean as they are now.. There were guns, but mostly in my circles were Knives..(Stiletto) and billy-clubs, and of course 'good ole fists..' . Well, I remember  what we used to call, and still do, 'running territories'.   Our hang-out at night was 2,3 certain territories away form  the apt. complex we  stayed in.. So, we through a tantrum sorta speak to want to sleep on the fire escape.. do you believe this. It was a couple of floors up, and we would  say we were going to sleep out there, and put our pillows and blankets out there, and when her Dad would go to sleep,  We, would lower the metal ladder down, and run !! We would run through these blocks ,without much of a problem till we hit Frankie's, and Steve's neighborhood, and then go to the Forest hills dome.. and hang!! We would Smoke, and make out .. and just clown around.. and then run back to the stairs, and raise them up, and go to sleep..Out on the fire escape.. Did not matter what the temperature was.. It was about risk, and taking it.. We survived,..lol. On certain rainy mornings, we would go down to the Delicatessen under the train tracks and meet our buddies, and hang there all day.. The train going by over head, and the smell of the city bring memories back when I think about those careless days I spent there.. Running Territories....