About The Book
The 86 Kids
This is a Memoir about a kid named Matt as he reminisces about his childhood in Wausau, Wisconsin during the mid-1980’s. Matt recalls various events from his childhood, including playing basketball, family life, sports activities, first crush, and the summer before the transition to middle school. The story offers a fun, humorous, and nostalgic look at the era that defined Generation X. So strap yourself in and get ready for a trip back to 1985-86 when things made sense.
Here are few excerpts from the book.
1 – Our cafeteria was also our gym. When you ate your sack lunch or hot lunch meal (gross), you had to raise your hand to be officially done. When you raised your hand, a teacher would come, check your bag, and decide if you had eaten enough of your lunch so you could go out and play.
I’ll tell you what it was like-it was like going through a bag check at the airport terminal.
“Did you pack your own lunch? Has your sack lunch been in your possession the entire time?”
Some teachers, as they were going through your bag, would give you the evil eye like you had done something wrong. Even if they said, “You’re not finished,” I wouldn’t eat the rest anyway because their hands had been in the bag. But as a kid, “germs” wasn’t a word I knew or even cared about, for that matter.
2 – I came downstairs, and now my hair is standing up on the right side. I went in the den and laid on the couch to watch the Bozo Show, my favorite morning show.
“Do you want some hot chocolate, Matt?” Mom says.
“Yes, and can I have a Pop-Tart?” I ask.
“Sure,” she answers.
I loved the cinnamon brown sugar Pop-Tarts. They were classic. They always gave me an energy boost-heck with the energy bar, they tasted like crap. I watched up through the Grand Prize Game. Today, the kid missed bucket number 3. C’mon, I could do better than that. I wish I could be the kid playing the Grand Prize Game. Making bucket number 6 and winning the $100 bill would have been a dream come true for me.
3 – “Hi Bruno,” I hear Holly say.
She is sure smitten over Bruno. I think Bruno likes her too, but I believe Jon also has eyes for Holly. Geez, probably all the guys liked her. Most of the guys, including myself, head outside to get a basketball game going. The girls sit around, watch, and talk. The games are pretty intense, with nearly every guy trying to impress some girl in that group. I was playing well today-I made like four baskets in a row. I look over at Holly, and she is paying attention to what Bruno is doing. I see that Kristen is looking at me, though. I thought she was alright, so that wasn’t bad.
“Hey, are you guys going to the High Roller Party next Saturday?” Becky asks us as we stop playing basketball for a few seconds.
Bruno chimes in, “Yes, I think most of us are.”
“Great, we’ll be there,” Becky says.
“Should be a cool time,” Bruno adds.
I missed my chance to talk to Holly today. Oh well, I’ll see her in school though. Maybe I will offer her some more beef jerky.