2. I was born in New Jersey.

I was born in a small town in New Jersey, remember?
People think New Jersey is full of chemicals and factories. Where I grew up we had a park, and the park had trees. But bad kids used to hang out behind the trees. So I would just go home.
I would come home from school, and there would be Mom on the couch watching TV, and I would walk in and go brrrr, it's cold. I would ask if there was any hot chocolate, and she would tell me to fix myself a sandwich. And I would, and we would sit and watch Days of Our Lives, but I never understood it. Then I would go upstairs.
I have two brothers (Tim and Joe) and three sisters (Anne, Kelly, and Karli). They are all much older than me.
On the nights when my Dad came home, I would go watch TV with him in the garage. He had a small color TV set there, and even though it was cold, brrr, it was nice to do something with him. We would watch hockey. He did not like to talk during the games, so I never understood them. He only talked when he wanted me to get him a sandwich. Later, my friend Joss told me about hockey. Joss is a nice guy.
Joss and I used to like these two girls in high school. The girls were from Vietnam. One was named Hlee and the other was Brenda. We would try to sit close to them during lunch. One day Joss talked to them about karate movies, and they laughed at him. They said they did not know karate. But we all became friends anyway. Both girls had dark hair and wore glasses. Hlee had brown eyes, and Brenda had a slow one. Brenda could put her tongue up her left nostril, but not the right one. I thought she was nice. But I think they liked Joss better. But then his father was sent to a prison in Texas, and his family had to move down there. So then it was just me and the girls at lunch. I missed Joss. But this was nice.
One time Brenda's parents were away, and she invited me over. Hlee was there, too. We listened to music. They started dancing. I was afraid to dance and just scratched my head. Then Brenda said she wanted to take a nap. Then Hlee said she wanted to take a nap too. So we all went upstairs. The girls got on the bed and told me to sleep in between them. Hlee spooned me from behind, and I spooned Brenda. It was nice, and I fell asleep right away. I woke up later by myself. They were watching TV downstairs and told me I had to go home. And then summer vacation came. And in the fall I found out they had transferred to different schools.
Grandpa John is one who told me about baseball. He hated the Yankees. He painted a picture of Lou Gehrig on the trunk of a tree. It was a detailed picture, and you could see the green of the Yankee's eyes. Grandpa John should have been an artist. He would sit in his rocking chair and when he reached the outer part of his rocking he would fling his Bowie knife at Lou Gehrig's face and say, "Fuck the Yankees." Mom used to not let me go outside when he did that. She said, "Roger, stay inside. Grandpa John's got his Bowie knife out. Go fix yourself a sandwich or something." I learned not to like the Yankees.

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