When I was in high school, the Chief was still driving a 1955 Chevy he bought new in Norfolk, Virginia in the fall of 1954. It was a 210, that was the two door with door posts, forest green, a 265 cubic inch V-8 with a three speed transmission. It was the only claim to "cool" I ever had, I got to drive it around alot. The Chief worked to keep it in prime condition. I learned a lot as his assistant...oil changes...brake jobs...wash and wax...and one time, rebuilding the generator. It was during the generator rebuild that I learned the meaning of the "Blue Streak".
In our house, "hell" and "damn" were the outer limits of vulgarity. The Chief would not tolerate rude language, especially in front of the girls. I learned this lesson at a very young age, about 8 years old, right after we came home from Virginia. We were visiting the Chief's home town of Fortuna, CA. My brother, the Chief, and I were driving over to see the Chief's Aunt Annie. It was a sad reunion because in every previous home leave, he had always danced with Auntie...but while we were in Norfolk this time, she had a leg amputated...no dancing this trip. Any way, I was in the back seat and the Chief was commenting on how good it was to be home, none of us really cared for Norfolk very much. In my young, foolish, and ignorant brain...the name of the town...Norfolk...(especially the way it is pronounced by the natives there...kinda had a Nawfawk sound) just seemed to flow into the following sentence...."Yeah, I guess we can call them the f**ker town, huh !" I don't know where that came from. Having said it I immediately wondered if I had actually said it out loud. The shocked look on my brother's face and the beet red complexion on the Chief's face indicated that , yeah, I said it out loud. He slammed on the brakes and turned, reaching across the seat while the car was still sliding, and making a grab for me that I somehow evaded...for a second. Well...needless to say that I was instructed on the difference between words we use and words we don't use...EVER. Instruction that stuck with me for years.
Fast forward about eight years, we are back in the garage reassembling the generator and mounting it back in its bracket. If snug is good, tight is better. Except when his wrench slips off the bolt and your knuckles bang into the engine block, leaving chunks of knuckle flesh attached to various parts of the block. At this point the Chief broke out with what could only be described as a "Blue Streak". I heard him spouting words I knew were on the "we don't use...EVER" list and lots of words that I had never heard before and stringing normal usage words into "don't use " phases. He went on for what seemed like forever but in reality was probably no more that four or five minutes..(.he never repeated himself !!) until he got the bleeding controlled. He finally stopped, took a deep breath, then slowly turned his head toward me and gave me "the look". "You didn't hear that." I numbly nodded...his nostrils flared...I realized I should be shaking my head instead of nodding and nearly got whiplash making the correction....(as if by the power of his words he could erase the mind-numbing tirade that would scar me for life).
It happened about 44 years ago and I couldn't pretend to remember everything that was said...but I will never forget the impact and the wonder of it...having seen a master at work.