 We lived in a co-ed boarding house run by a woman with a face like a clenched fist named Mrs. D. I spent my days hanging out at Evan's balloon stand, where his boss finally became so tired of having me around that he pulled some strings to get me a job working as a change boy at an arcade. If you walk down the boardwalk, there was a point where it looked like the fun had come to an end. My arcade was just a few yards past that.