Earlier, until I was 7 years old, we lived in Washington Heights, near the northern tip of Manhattan. A photographer used to come around with a pony on which children would sit to have their picture taken. I still have mine taken at 4. (My future wife, then unknown to me, had her picture taken on the same pony a few years later.) In the summer, a truck came around with a small carousel on the back. The driver turned the carousel by hand. There was a big iron wheel at the side, and he pumped up and down while six or eight children rode around. I loved it. (My wife, a few years later, loved it too.) A man occasionally wandered through the streets, garments draped over his shoulder, calling out, "I cash clo'. I cash clo'." He bought old clothes, usually men's, that people wanted to get rid of, and then sold them somewhere. Opposite our apartment house was a large vacant lot that had never been built on. It was surrounded by apartment houses, but the lot itself was untouched. I used to clamber over rocks and climb trees that Indians had known. This was true of Central Park, too. I knew, but that was for the city. This was for me and my friends, our own Indian territory.
早些時候,我7歲以前,我家住在靠近曼哈頓北端的華盛頓高地。一位攝影師常常牽著一匹小馬駒在這一帶徘徊,孩子們往往騎在馬上照相。我還保存著我4歲時騎馬拍的照片。(我未來的妻子,當然我當時根本不認識她,幾年后也騎在同一匹馬上拍了照片。)夏日里,有一輛后面拉著一匹小型旋轉(zhuǎn)木馬的卡車常停在這一帶。司機用手轉(zhuǎn)動著木馬,木馬邊上有一只大鐵輪子,他上下移動操縱桿,6到8個孩子騎在上面旋轉(zhuǎn)著。我喜歡坐旋轉(zhuǎn)木馬。(我妻子幾年后也喜歡坐旋轉(zhuǎn)木馬。)一個男人偶爾在街上游蕩,把衣服搭在肩上,嘴里吆喝著:“舊衣服換錢,舊衣服換錢。”他收購舊衣服,通常是人們不想要的男士衣服,再把它們賣往別處。我們住的公寓對面是一塊空地,上面什么也沒有。周圍都是公寓,但這塊空地從來沒有人動過。我常常在大石頭之間攀來爬去,還爬上印第安人所熟悉的樹木。我知道,中央公園也是如此,但它是為這座城市準備的。而這塊空地是為我和朋友們準備的,是我們自己的印第安人領(lǐng)地。