Yo-yo man

Yes, there was a Yo-yo man who came to our school several times when I was growing up. I wanted to badly to be able to wield a yo-yo like Yo-yo man. I wanted to be able to walk the dog, let the yo-yo go to sleep, and do the around the world. But to do that I needed a yo-yo.

I could purchase a yo-yo for ten cents at Jakes 5 and 10. It wasn't a good yo-yo and because I didn't know about how to slip the string that wound around the yo-yo on properly, I really couldn't do many "tricks."

Well, one day I discovered (by accident) that if I wrapped the string on this yo-yo very losely around the peg that held the string, I could get more spin. Then I was able to do, at least, the trick where you drop the yo-yo and it spins and spins and spins, and then when you jerk up the string, it comes back up. It's called the sleeper.

I really wanted a Duncan yo-yo, not a generic yo-yo as I had bought for 10 cents. The trouble was the Duncan cost 75 cents, and that was a chunk of change for me when I was in the 2nd grade or even the third grade. A dime I could handle, three quarters? Well, that was a problem.

I received no allowance at that time -- allowance started in third grade. So, I had to find a way to get that money. I could steal it. No, the Bible says, "Thou shalt not steal." I could work for it, but who wants to hire a 7-year-old girl who isn't allowed to wear dungarees? What was I to do?

I started walking the streets of Runnemede -- don't get excited, I didn't say I became a street walker. I walked the streets with my head down looking for change that people may have dropped along the way. It's easier to find pennies these days than those days, but I was able to find 43 cents. Why do I remember that it was 43 cents? I was born in 1943. And I knew I needed another quarter and 7 pennies.

Uncle Joe Sprat was coming to visit us on Friday night. I figured he was good for a quarter. He almost always gave us each a quarter when he came to visit. Then, all I had to do was come up with seven more cents. Duh -- why not ask my mom and/or my dad if they wouldn't like to invest in my yo-yo skills, which I was sure would make me yo-yo woman in just a few short days.

I was able to get the money for the Duncan yo-yo, which by far was a much better trick yo-yo than the generic dime model. I played with that thing for hours each day until I was able to do around the world, walk the dog, and breakaway. I learned a few more tricks in later years because each time the Yo-yo man came to our school, I was energized to practice some more tricks.

By the way, I'm still pretty handy with a yo-yo.

I found a really neat website for all you yo-yo wannabes out there -- http://www.yoyoing.com/beginner/ . It shows the various moves and names them. And check out this yo-yo page: http://www.smothersbrothers.com/yoyoman.html Yo-yo man (not the same yo-yo man I knew)