CNN iReport

I grew up on a street of triple deckers in St. Margaret's Parish in Dorchester Ma.   The neighborhood was filled with freckled-faced Irish Catholic kids such as myself and my two brothers. There wasn't much money to be had in this neighborhood but what we had was a television station on Morrissey Blvd, across from the Boston Globe Newspaper  where they had Bozo the Clown shows.  In those days the shows were live television and watched by every kid I knew.  One parent or another would write in and get as many tickets as allowed, so my friends and I would go on the show as often as we could.  Roseclair Street in Dorchester was always well represented.  When we entered the studio, we were greeted by the Ringmaster and given numbers on a white sticker to place on our shirts.   We all knew what the number was for.   It was a chance to win the coveted Treasure Chest.   The Ringmaster would get us all riled up for when Bozo came onto the stage.   Of course we all knew the song in fact I can recall a refrain or two.   "Let me take you by the hand and we'll go see the circus grand, the circus is my home, you'll never have to roam.....Bozo, Bozo, Bozo the Clown.  It came time for the Treasure Chest game.   I can still remember being so glad  it wasn't the game where the contestant had to hit one spoon on the other so it would land in a glass.  This was always the hardest task but yielded the most prizes to those who could do it.  Every time a kid lost a game a prize was added to the Treasure Chest.    On this one particular show, a number was called by the Ringmaster to play the game for the Treasure Chest and no one came forward.  Another number was called and a friend sitting next to me said, "It's You!"  I looked down at my number and sure enough, it was me.  The biggest thrill in all my ten years.   As shy as I was I wasn't afraid and there I went down to the ring to be given by my task by Bozo.  I had to step on this ball filled with air which would cause this other ball to go in the air when I stepped on it.   I had to catch the ball three times in a row in a net in order to win.   I was so focused on winning I ran into a camera man but I kept going, undaunted until I won the big prize, the Treasure Chest.  I can still hear my friend, or rather the neighborhood chanting my name.   I won a badmitton set and a sail boat, both given to my brothers eventually.    I had thought the chest had more toys, as on the bottom of the chest there was a box to make the Treasure Chest appear more filled with toys.    But you know it did not matter, I had won and was a star in my neighborhood, at least for that day.   At the end of the show, we all left happily with a goody bags given to us by the Ringmaster.   What a happy day it was and still is forty four or so years later.   Bozo, Rest in Peace.