Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Home Dingers


Growing up in Wheeling, West Virginia, Lord Kadizzle went to school with a lot of orphan children. The orphanage pictured above happened to be located in a very well to do neighborhood full of mansions. As one of nine children Lord Kadizzle had the protection of a tribe. If you harmed one Quinn child, you could be subject to the wrath of nine of them. There was only one tribe more fearsome, it was the Homedingers as we called them. Those kids were smart enough to form a union. Most of them were tough enough on their own to kick a lot of butt. I was a pretty tough kid in my time, but Gary Caldwell from the orphanage always was nearby to tune me up if needed. He was the only kid on the playground I had to respect. The homedingers were in our scout troup and a lot of them were nice kids. Some of them had mental problems. Once I recall one of them stabbing me with a hand full of darts on the wrist. Most homedingers were a grade or two behind, so that meant the were extra big for the class they were in, one more reason to give them a wide berth. I always felt sorry for the poor home kids as the were politely called. They forced those poor kids to go to Sunday school, which was a fate worse than death. Only once did I ever know of any of them getting adopted. I am not sure what happened to the place. God bless the homedingers.

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