The Alleyway - ENM

[Namb]

I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950's. There were literally hundreds of boys and girls playing on the street.

The older boys played on the street. This left the sidewalk to younger boys and girls aged 4 to 14. These kids were divided into play groups of about 10 kids. With the older boys playing on the street, the groups had more girls than boys and the oldest was inevitably a girl. So by majority and seniority, the groups were female-led.

One of the worst things that can happen to a kid is to go "in." If you go in too close to lunch or dinner you may not get back out. Also if you need an older sibling to go in, you loose two players.

For girls where wasn't much option. For boys there was the alley. The alley was about 2 feet wide and ran behind the row of houses on the intersecting street.

So if a little boy had to go to the bathroom, the head girl would delegate another girl to take him to the alleyway. Sometimes sisters or other girls would tag along. There probably wasn't a girl on the block that didn't know what little boys looked like before she started school.

Older boys used the alleyway, too. But we put our backs to the street. Everyone passing by knew what we were doing.