Recollections of October 1962

It was October, the leaves fell. I revelled in my youth. Long pants and a sweatshirt against thefirst chillof autumn. Still, just enough time for a game of ball before the first snow covered the field. Something happened in sixty-two. that took the fun and innocence out of fall; there were missiles in Cuba with more on the way. Warnings were given, demands and made. At the age of twelve I learned the meaning of a naval blockade. Grownups spoke in hushed tones over hastily brewed coffee, eyes and ears glued to the television for the latest news. We went to bed and slept uneasily, not knowing what kind of world we would wake up to, if we woke up at all. Two giants, swords drawn, faced each other in a battle of wills. The great bear blinked and we stepped back from the abyss that nearly swallowed an anxious world. It was October, the leaves fell. Somehow I felt much older.