Bomb Shelter
During the Cold War in the 1960’s, it was trendy to have a bomb shelter. Or at least so we were led to believe by the family who built one in the small town where I grew up. They were really proud of this closed-in cinderblock part of their basement. I remember that it was a secret. As family friends, we were allowed to tour it it but were instructed not to tell anyone else about the bomb shelter’s existence. Maybe they feared that everyone would come banging on their door wanting in, should there be a nuclear catastrophe, I don’t know. I recall that it was extremely small, dark and cramped, not anyplace I would enjoy spending hours — much less days, weeks, months or possibly years. Those people are long gone from that house. I wonder what happened to the bomb shelter in the basement.
The bomb shelter in our neighborhood was a big secret too. The man who was built ing it had a fight with his wife about letting her sister in. He stopped building the his house and bomb shelter because of it. I wished my friend would invite out family in but with the work stoppage it was not to be. I worried because we didn’t have a basement. Those darn Russians!