A British woman took care of us sometimes. I was lying with my head on her lap in the backseat one night. She was feeding me pickled pigs feet, until she told me what we were eating.

The grown-ups were listening to a fight on the car radio when I fell asleep. I woke up when they started shouting happily about a new heavyweight champion. Cassius Clay, now Muhammad Ali, became everyone's hero.

We had a new idol.
I was in the
third grade.