The dump

When I was a kid my dad-"the mechanic"-would take me and my brother Cliff to the dump. It was at that time big open pits of all kinds of things. There were old mattresses, broken toys, dead animals, and of course the big draw for my dad-old cars. He would take us there and he would go off looking for car parts-it was free here not like those expensive salvage yards! Cliff and I were left to wander around on our own. I remember coming close to the edge of the dead animal pit, and Cliff who was probably 9 so I was 6, warning me not to step too close to the edge or I'd fall in. We found all kinds of junk there, and I thought it was super fantastic until I got a more mature and hygenic brain. When they closed that dump and put up big signs that said, "NO SCAVENGING!" that was a very sad day for my dad. I on the other hand had grown up and found that day to be one of the best days of my life! But, there were still trash cans at work to go through and things that were on the side of the road to pick up, so my dad still had his sources, but definitely not as exciting as our old dump.