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 pink pistol Houston, TX What I wouldn't give to experience that joy of a true youthful summer again. As soon as the light hit my eyes I was on my bike. Nowhere to go and plenty of time to get there. Usually down the street to just ride in circles and do the 'CHIPs' slap with Keith and Greg, trying to hit each other hard enough to fall off. Later we'd put together Star Wars puzzles on the garage floor, each person sneaking one piece into their pocket trying to put the last piece in. Another year saw a marathon game of Monopoly, combining all the money from three sets. That game lasted over three weeks until I tripped over it, spewing cheap capitalism everywhere. Shoddy records were kept so it was called a draw. After my bike was stolen (later I found out by the shitty kid down the street that I never got along with), I would hoof it down to the library (not sure why but I think it was six miles round trip) to turn in my books, check out new ones and move my token to the next achievement diorama. My favorite reading program was a dinosaur theme. My token was a red triceratops. Funny how so much joy can be bled from something so simple as a tin foil volcano. Working my way through Encyclopedia Brown, the Hardy Boys, and countless collections of ghost stories, I outdid myself the summer after fifth grade the day I brought home the Lord of the Rings trilogy fully believing I could finish it in the two week time limit. The Fellowship of the Ring left me bleeding, gasping for some monosyllabism and dirty jokes. I buckled down and made it halfway through The Two Towers before I quit. That was the last time I brought more than one book home from the library. (On a side note, I was gifted a set of books in seventh grade and finished the trilogy a few times.) Being raised by a single working mother, we spent more than our fair share of summer days with our grandparents. Two summers specifically stand out, those of 1980 and 1982 when we spent the majority of that time at the local theater. We would spend three days out of the week in front of The Empire Strikes Back or E.T.. Those were magic days when we could buy one ticket and sit through multiple screenings, never once getting bored. For now, I'll just try and stay cool in anticipation for the chance to channel some of that youth in July. Damn it's hot. | |
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Posted by r2blue Archived under: Color, Things |
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