Hey buddy got a pill

 

Hey buddy got a pill

     This is another of the microcosms of life that Greg remembered and repeated for no other reason than to show his regard for a black sheep of the family. Thomas Aloyisius Sheehy was the second born of  Patrick and Kate Sheehy who lived on Croesus Street in Florence where they had settled after leaving Illinois. It went Lawrence, Al, Rose, John and Janet who sometimes worked in the Sheehy Dairy at 2124 E. 83rd street very near the residence at 8123 Croesus. When little Al was a kid on the farm he was kicked in the face by a cow and the accident left him disfigured and without an eye. Despite his high intelligence Al was always behind the 8-ball due to his appearance. By the time he was an adult he worked a series of factory and machinist jobs. In 1930 he was a wharehouseman, Lawrence a bank teller and Rose a stenographer. Al was a hard-living character who never reached the legitimacy of the rest of the family and stayed around the old neighborhood well after it had gone downhill. In his 40's he cared for his mother and worked  in the area sometimes. He associated with the other side of life and always maintained a beat up old "stove" as he called the over-the-hills muscle cars he drove over to the Sheehy home on McNerney. While he was the black sheep it wasn't because he was a criminal or bad brother but more because he did things like gamble on crap games and let a drunken pal practice tattooing on his arms. So when Greg was old enough to know there was an Uncle Al he was afflicted with asthma and it flared up unexpectantly to incapacitate him. The family doctor supplied him with the powerful Tedral that was a severe combination of theophylline, ephedrine, phenobarbital that would get you breathing again if you were in bad shape. It was a last resort and would knock out the young boy when used. It was taken off the market in 1993. Uncle Al also had bad lungs but his were more from chain-smoking that exasperated the asthma he struggled with while living in the smog capitol of the world at that point. Al did not have the money to visit doctors and once when he was greatly distressed he was given one of Greg's magic pills that relieved his own gasping for breath. One afternoon in the days when Greg was a latchkey kid he saw Al's old car stop in front of the house and came to the front door to find his Uncle leaning with a hand on the wall gasping for breath. Al looked up at him with a pale face and asked "hey buddy...got a pill?" Of course, Greg darted into the bathroom got out a Tedral, then poured a glass of water and attended to his Uncle Al.