Whenever Possible, Play with the Silversteins.
This has been a mantra of mine for most of my life.
The Hedges family lived next door to the Silversteins. Lee and Larry Silverstein were fraternal twins and easily two of the coolest kids in West Des Moines. Lee wore glasses, Larry often didn’t wear a shirt. Lee could outthink you, Larry could outfox you – and just being their neighbor, just knowing them, made me feel special.
Why should you want to play with the Silversteins? Because they were the best. In everything. Baseball, football, basketball, in Ditch ‘Em and Flashlight Tag.
If you play with the Silversteins, be prepared to lose. You’ll lose most of the time. But you will get better.
If I hadn’t I played with the Silversteins…
The following may never have happened:
When I was eight-years-old and in the third grade, the Silverstein twins were in fifth grade. One day Lee and I were playing Ping Pong in their basement. Most likely, Lee was winning. While we played, I told him a story I’d made up. He liked my story and told me I should write it down. But I didn’t like the physical act of writing. I was left-handed and had hard-to-read penmanship. We played on.
Later that afternoon, Lee knocked on my front door. He’d brought along notebook paper and a pencil. In our living room, Lee knelt at our coffee table and told me to slowly re-tell my story. And as I did, he wrote down my story word for word.
You see, if Lee Silverstein thinks you’re a writer, it must be true.
Peter – it’s so eye opening and inspiring to see how you view our co-mingled childhood. Your house was the first house other than my own I remember sometimes entering without the customary knock. The memories are endless and it’s a blast to read em when they come from you. Really looking forward to your new book.
Larry — it’s nice to hear from you. You and your family are frequently in my thoughts. I may not have explained as clearly as I’d hoped on the blog, but what happened was that I spent much of my time playing sports with you and Lee (and losing) so that when I played with kids my age, I did pretty good. Also, I always felt that if somebody was after me (and in 5th and 6th grade people were often after me) you or Lee would kick their ass on my behalf. Thanks for that. And a whole lot more.
Peter: I remember how athletic you were at 2..you would get out of the playpen quicker than a wink and off you’d go..you really kept your Mom going when you were tiny…but always a nice boy…Ruthanne Silverstein
Hello, Mrs. Silverstein! How nice of you to write and to remember my mom. I hope all is well with you and your family and that I’ll see you when I’m in Des Moines. Love, Peter
Dear Lee Silverstein: Thank you for writing down Peter Hedges first story and nudging him along his path to become a writer.
Mr. Hedges’ slam-bang humor, radiant compassion, and heart wrenching characters, make my life on this earth not only better, but also happier. How did you know to write that story down for him? What did you hear in that first story he told you that compelled you – such a young kid yourself – to go to his house with paper and pencil and get him to dictate a story?
Have you gone on to be a discoverer of other great talent?
Peter,
Not sure if you remember me as I moved to the W Des Moines scene in the 8th grade attending Hillside and later Valley. Your memories of the Silverstein household brings back many of my own but mainly the fact that the Silverstein house was the central gathering point for many of our friends and that it was indeed the coolest house on the block or in W Des Moines for that matter.
Continued success,
Brian Correll
Thanks, Brian.
This story is moving and shocking. Moving because it’s those early chance things that can alter a whole life. Shocking because there were Jews in Iowa.
Actually, Des Moines has a significant Jewish population. As a kid, I joined the Des Moines Jewish Community Center so I could play with my friends in their basketball league. Great gym, shiny uniforms, and the best trophies.
Peter, you are one of the great story tellers of our time. It is good thing you didn’t tell Lee about a math idea. Though he would have been of great help, it would not have served you nearly as well as his encouragement to write your stories down. I remember in I think 7th grade you were in 6th and we were in I think Mr. Henning’s class and being told if we did well on a math aptitude test, we would “get” to take a tougher math class the following year. I think we looked at each other and thought why would we want do that? I was a year older and probably not the positive influencer that Lee was. After convincing each other it would be cool to fill out the bubble sheet with a picture rather than answers (can’t remember what yours was, (a smiley face maybe?} we paid the price when the results came back. I think we both were lectured hard on not applying ourselves and won’t amount to much if we can’t take math and school more seriously. You seem to have overcome that rather well.
Jim, I had blocked this memory out, probably too painful. But thank you for reminding me of those junior high math struggles. Although, as I recall, Lee was great at math.
Oh yeah, Lee was scary good.
Peter,
Can’t wait for your book. As I am reading these “down memory lane” stories, I can’t help but remember crab apple fights between you, the Silversteins the DePhillips kids and some of the “girls” from my side of the street. Maybe I remember them because the girls lost–and I DIDN’T like to lose! Best wishes on your book release (or whatever the lingo is!)
Funny, I don’t remember winning. But I remember you. And the Cutler’s basketball hoop, which was the best on the block. Thanks for your support. My best to you and your family.
Wow, I feel so cheated! I only got to carpool with the Silversteins a few times to Sunday School. Or was it the Jewish Community Center basketball league?
The equivalent to the Silversteins in my neighborhood was John Medberry. In all my years living three doors down from him, I could never beat him at ping pong nor at the board game “Life”. I’ll bet a name like Medberry would work in one of your novels. Ted Medberry, maybe?
Len
Someone was telling me about your Silverstein blog last night, and I had to check it out! We lived on the south side of Ashworth on 28th – my Mom used to mistake your brother Joel with my sister Laurie – the towhead blond hair did it, I think. I went to school with Lee and Larry and I remember being scared to death of Larry! In 8th grade at Hillside he once blocked the fire escape during a fire drill and I was so mad that in case of a real fire I could die because of him. But I survived!
I also loved to hang out at the Silverstein’s house growing up. I was best friends with Leslie at Fairmeadows and lived on 23rd St. Mrs. Sorensen was our favorite teacher and we always stayed after school to talk to her. Leelee and Lolo were the annnoying little brothers.
Peter, did you know that my parents commissioned your mom to paint a landscape for our living room? It was very abstract, with oranges, browns and channels running through it. I loved to study it when I was little. I don’t know what happened to it, but it was way cool!
Mary Claire & I played together, too. You had the neatest collie (Corky, I think). We lived across the street from the Cutlers and I see Chuck sometimes. We had The Great Pumpkin at Halloween so our poodles would’t bark at the trick or treaters!
Mary, I didn’t know about my mom’s painting. But I remember a monkey of some kind and, of course, I remember the talking pumpkin. It was the highlight of Halloween! Best Wishes to you and your family.