I remember it because it was also the night Pink Varscoe kissed me for the first time. It was Miners Union Day, and a bunch of us decided to go out to Columbia Gardens. Toney had a fight there that night, and he wanted us to go and cheer for him. Even then, I think he liked Whippy Bird and wanted to impress her, though Whippy Bird says back then he was twice as old as her, and Mr. Bird would have killed him if Toney had so much as put a finger on her. Mr. Bird felt that way about every boy Whippy Bird went out with, especially her husbands. She says Toney just wanted to show off, which he surely did like to do. Toney’d been a fighter for a couple of years. He started punching as a union thug, beating up miners who spoke out against the union. Then he lined up a few bouts to see if he could make money at it. He wasn’t very good, but he fought dirty, hitting where he wasn’t supposed to, so he won more times than he lost. He had a heap and said he’d drive all of us, so we didn’t mind if we went.
