The Finnigan kids were not unlike other kids in their studies, their wants and desires and their ingenuity. They had endless ideas for projects, hobbies and money making endeavors. The boys were always building model airplanes and gliders from balsa wood struts that Dad bought them and they cut, pinned and glued on a board, then assembled and covered the plane with tissue paper. They launched the planes from the upstair's bedroom window and after several crash landings would set the planes on fire for a final flight. !
One day Dad the Salvation Army came by and pick up some throw aways. When the truck arrived the boys spot a BB gun on the truck and negotiated a trade for their family's donations. From the upstairs bedroom there was a clear view of the street and the parkway where the grass is cut weekly by a man riding on a tractor with a side mower. The boys could hear a loud BLING as the BBs hit the tractor and while they are reloading the driver makes a quick U-turn and retreats back up the street. When he returns he's carrying a garbage can cover to protect himself and the boys are delighted with an even louder BLING when the BBs hit the cover.
Jud Harlow, the next door neighbor, worked the night shift at an auto assembly plant, returning home each morning to sleep. One day the younger boys are roller skating up and down the sidewalk and quite by accident discover a new way to make some pocket change. After going back and forth in front of the Harlow's house several times, Judd comes to his bedroom window and asked the boys to stop skating there. Boys will be boys and so they continued to skate and Judd appeared again and says if they will go somewhere else to skate, he would give them each ten cents. The kids say OK and Judd opens the screen and throws the money down on the driveway. The boys learned what annuities are and the money rolls in all summer. When winter arrives, not a problem, they just walk back and forth with shovels scraping on the sidewalk.
Each year the school has a fund raiser selling peanut brittle. The students canvas their neighborhoods for orders and the Nuns place an order with the candy company for the orders received. The children make the deliveries and collect and deliver the money to the school. The Finnigan boys, always on the lookout for ways to make money for birthdays and xmas gifts, found after weighing many boxes that almost all weighed more than the one pound weight shown on the box. The following year they had record sales but before they turned in their order, they reduced the order placed with the school by the overage they had estimated. When the candy arrived, they weighed each box, removed the overage and used it to fill empty boxes they bought at a 5 and 10 store on Bailey Avenue. They delivered all the orders, paid the school for their boxes, kept the the amount collected for the overage orders and everyone was happy!
Dad always made sure that the family celebrated Christmas. Shortly before Christmas, Dad sent Jerry downtown to Klienhans Department store to buy gifts for the family, using Dad's charge account. Jerry is "the last of the big spenders" and the delivery truck arrives with several gifts for each of the kids and Dad. Dad sends everything back except a Lionel train for the older boys, a doll for Kathleen and a hook and ladder fire truck for John and Paul. Presents are placed under a large tree in the living room and always opened on Xmas eve. It was a time of joy for the whole family. Dad always gave books to the kids, in fact, he gave Paul "Prince and the Pauper" two years in a row, one written by Samuel Clemens and the other written by Mark Twain.
On their way home from school, the family passed a candy store at the corner of Kensington and Darwin drives. Long glass cases span the width of the store with large bowls of assorted candies with chocolates, mints and all kinds of candy. The kids love candy but they have little money. They move back and forth the length of the cases choosing which candy to buy and finally reach a consensus. They buy ten cents worth of mints that will be easy to divide. After they leave, the store owner cleans off all the smudges and prints left by their grimy little hands. A few days later as they cross the street heading for the store, the owner runs to meet them at the door, with a free bag of mints... They have found another annuity.
The Finnigan boys were very close and protective of each other. Paul was finally in school and generally walked home with the rest of the family, but on occasion and against Dad's orders, Paul walked home alone. The "Finnigan path" cuts across a large field full of tall summer weeds. George Eggloff, the bully in Paul's class lived near the path and seeing Paul walking alone, hides along the path, jumps out and beats him up. Paul tells his brothers about the ambush and they come up with a plan. The next day they walk ahead of Paul and hide along the path. When George sees Paul alone again and runs to hide, the boys take out old Georgee Porgee. The word spreads around school quickly... don't mess with any of the Finnigan boys. No different than any other family.
When they reached the eighth grade, each of the Finnigans was assigned to ring the dismissal bell. The bell ringer keeps an eye on the clock and at dismissal time walks down the hall ringing the bell. During the lunch hour, one of their pals sneaks into the class room and sets the clock ahead one hour. Class resumes and no one notices the change in time. At dismissal time "Finnigan" picks up the bell, leaves the room and dismisses the school. Several of the Nuns realize what has happened, run into the hall to stop everyone and return them to their class rooms. Sister Gabriel, who figures out that Finnigan is in on the scam, keeps him after school. Being famous school wide was fun!
