Originally Posted by
psalms144.1
I grew up in a Mayberry too - less than 10K folks in the town, consistently rated as one of the best and most desirable suburbs of NYC, top notch schools, the whole shebang. During the summer and on weekends, I'd eat breakfast, jump on my bike, meet my buddies and go tear-assing around the area - and come home just in time for dinner. Folks never worried about a thing.
-When I was 14 or so, a class mate was grabbed by a group of other kids from the next town over, and they shoved rocks down his throat until he was dead.
-Our modest house was broken into three times while we were away on vacation.
-When I was in HS, the local drive through milk&eggs joint was held up at shotgun point
Now, 30+ years later, the town is more crowded, and things have changed a bit. My mom passed in early 2016, and when I go to check on her house, I routinely find discarded syringes in the grass.
There is no Mayberry. Never was.