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\- mm.mmm-.u~muatf ' ay s are , bout to I he on he world The Newmarket Ray s are oil to Bakers- ,( aliferala in August to compete la the tlenal Seahall Congress' world cham- . ys.laerdertagettathefhals.theltay's iawlathelSC regisaalsheldeathew the Newmarket Falrgnsnna. About 2. showed up to watch the Newmarket side esstepforwardlnltsqnest fara global 3pm . an Hutchinson ph a : t; - . J e. c I at Ray'sedlleidebanyLaheywassale-ucalaga them MW.New-arhatlsstthehgamea atthe6aadyears hutcamehaekthreaothelaae a. g I. .1, Sadie Brent. the Ray's number one fan. was one d the many people to I! watchtheRay staketheiSCregisnalchamplanshbaatheweehend. .-: Glen Cale. peeks fre- hehhd father Ken s shoulder as he takes refuge ire-thehstsaaealatarday afternoon while mother Agnes watches the game. The Celes are from Queensvllle. O ('oach Glen Verge is hklng over for the pire on this call as he calls second seman Moose Jauntsems safe at home. Jaantsems earlier had played the hero's role as he siagged a heme r- agabt John Oliver. a team from Toronto. for the wlaahg runs. I ~-o ' as Team members congratulate captain t Hartley after he launched a home run of the park. Congratulating him are lvers Jaantsems. Larry Griffen. Frank Laverdl and Bah Richardalm. i 4! Reg Martin. Ricme Hill. Dale Acorn. Gary Weston. Bill Lunney and the rest of the Ray 's relas under Q a tree as they watch a game between Port l-Ilgin and Writer forsakes Main St. life By IVAN PROKOH Ht'K Two months ago. on a warm, damp Thur- ) afternoon. I gave up hangim armind on Main Street It seemed like something tem~ Mary at the time. the kind of dectsion you make usually at the begirliing of each spray. with the chill of a cold. wasted winter still upon you - ou know in the months that follow. you will did! back into the old Main Street soldier habits. uRender the vows. go back to comfortable lliltin- and smile at the implausibility of the town But I've turned in my shoddy unifa'm as a lam Street soldier l have stopped hanging "Mid l have stopped bei'm a fixture at the :Im Street drinkim spots And that was no easy itg' ' To begin with, I loved the life of a Main Sire-t soldier. the irrespomibtllty. the doseis of maids. the easy access to drinks and money. In somebody always seemed to have some 1 loved the packed. dense. beery warmth of r mda on a winte evening, with the snow Mun toward Hillard while a done of ta mm :39! soldiers. losers of many wars. sat in the 0m window, talking lying. brawng. sending l Wild challeige, we had. each of in. lost "whim. and so had nothing to lose "hawmcouddrinsmmmnm u 06 love. To leave this am. it Netwouldbetofaoeanothemewsu'ange a. faced amine chill . The life was particularly attractive for a down-andout write I learned things on Main Street 1 learned the cunning it takes just to stay alive, what it means to lose your credit. the wretchedness of an-hour )cbs. the shock and full realization of jut how cruel life can be. the compensating. almost dwine generosity of friends like John Moore who would sometimes borrow money Just to give you some. the truth of now!" sons: Life sometimes seems so uncertain me a face that you see through a curtain Lle a face withom any eyes Lie a kiss that means goo ye. Many of us had once been well off. and then lost Others wee lost from the beginnu There wee loses who had been good men and losers who hadn't been up to much from the quntng We were all on Main Street. the good. the bad the swift. the slow and the strong. livmg proof the biblical adage that time and chance over cometh all All of us were trying to get out to get off the street. each sardiiru for a way back to the garden. to other. bette yobs or to marriage beds grown strange and cold Ir And yet there was a gallows cheerftduss on Main Street. We were all in the same leaky boat It didn t matte if you were it! or so. had a string oquressorallstoffailed busineasei pine or a fine diction You didn t have any way, man. am! you wee therefore u'iept and somewhat dumb in the end. Jim like everybody else It tidn t matte where you'd been It s where you were, and that was on Main Street as the defeated soldier of many wars We would smile at one soldier who affected Bermuda shorts and a Nikai camea, trying to passhimadfdfasatoiristandnotaaolde We'd regard with amusement one particularly wdlm soldier who seemed foreye to be at the pay phone. making important calls in fll f he was fishing for dimes Eyerybody was trying to find a way out Law a money speculations in Florida grand (let Rich'Quick schemes Someone tried to start a house of ill repute. another a brewery ltried to turn the Granada restaurant into a literary salon, with. perhaps. one beer) soldier reading War and Peace in one corner another deeply engrossed in his copy of Also Spracii Zarathustra and Wicked Wanda transformed lrlo an 18th century hostess. replete in hooped own. greeting heavily rowed patrons. all of them passing brilliant bun mots later to con struct huge sprawling novels in the smokey air Someone would play harpicord and the air would later ring with devilishly constructed clever epigrams Ah the dreams The fact was that most nights we huddled together almost as if foi warmth all of us having found a Clean well lighted place where we might at last be welcome if we had the money for the beer tine day [woke up The street had its lure its charm, its goodiearted merchants but to live on the street, right on the street was to be in a lotus land. an alcohol rosy limbo it was to be nowhere at all I couldn't go on being a ragged) hale taxi drive. because I was not a tan driver lcouldnt go on being everybodys friend I could mt. at my age still remain a hedonistic child of 18 I had to find the truth about myself and if that truth was already quning to scare me, I would have to face that truth I had reporisibilities. children and I needed to find work fit for a grown man Sure. I had gone throwh an earthquake in my personal affairs. had lost home. wife, family money all in the space of two years But that. as they say. is life. and if I would have to rebuild my \ewmarket's Main St. is seen as a warm haien through the rose-tlnted re ections ol a writer who was hiding from mllrr nervous system to become the man that l at least once was. I would have to get of'f the street A The start may be false I have seen the grand schemes and dreamers. mod of them coming back afte a fruitless two manti- in Alberta or t" one more failed business en- hisreaponslhiltieslnthelifealastreet teprise behiml. humming money. still taking. still you! I have seen others. who. in their own baperatmtogeto lainStreetmavetahanall that somebody doe m'ht have llnve a. some of the ways. and anotiur petunia-y