Hot Fun In The Summertime… part one
This guy had the right idea… “Water, cold, lava, hot…”
It’s 104 degrees here in the Chicago suburbs, a record breaker, I believe. The words oven, furnace and lava come to mind every time I walk outside. Yes, I said lava — that image of people being overtaken by a lava floe in Pompeii has always stayed in my mind. One of the reasons it bothers me, and I’ve gotta be honest, is why couldn’t they outrun the lava and jump in the ocean? Seriously, lava is the slug of natural disasters sooo, what’s up with that? Anyway, I digress…
I thought I’d write a couple of short snapshot recollections of my most memorable summers.
THE GOOD HUMOR MAN – To this day, if I hear the bells of an ice cream truck I start to panic and salivate like Pavlov’s dog. Getting to my mother’s purse fast enough to grab some quarters and get outside was always a feat. Luckily, every kid in the neighborhood was doing the same thing — some of us were faster than others. The reward was either a BonJoy Swirl or a Chocolate Fudge Cake (it had a chocolate bar in the middle and it was DE-LISH.) You would think by the way we mauled him, that he was driving that white truck through the streets of Calcutta. By the end of the summer we had turned into hoodlums and were running up to the front to ring the bells while he was making change with the big freezer door open around the back. Round and round the truck we’d go. Such brats. The driver… he must truly have been a man of Good Humor!
THE SUMMER OF ‘SON OF SAM’ - I was working for my father in NYC during the summer of 1977. His office was Park Avenue and I want to say 33rd, maybe? Anyway, when work was over I would walk back to Grand Central which was roughly ten blocks away. This was the summer that was marked by the mysterious murder of young women with shoulder length hair. (Actually it had been going on since July of 1976). I was nervous, as was every girl my age, so I came up with a plan. I think you’ll see how brilliant I am when I reveal the well thought out details of this stay alive program. It was simple, really, I decided to act like I had schizophrenia on my walk back to the train station. My theory being, that most murderers would steer away from a crazy woman. This involved me talking and laughing to myself and making jerky movements with my head. This is what I imagined “crazy” looked like. (Let’s be honest, I was in Manhattan, there’s “crazy” on every street so I was pretty sure what it looked like.) I like to think that he saw me and passed me by for someone else — well, I don’t REALLY like to think that he chose someone else but, you know what I mean. Not every girl with shoulder length hair goes to the trouble of making a stay alive plan like I did.
*If memory serves they caught him in the suburbs. All that crazy acting for nothing! I wonder who else I scared off? Perhaps a hot potential suitor. Oh well.
Sometime remind me to tell my own story of imitating schizophrenia…it is hilarious…in that “special” kind of way.
Thanks for making me laugh until I had to run to the bathroom…Susie even came over to see what was making me giggle so much.
Be encouraged
I’m glad you had a good laugh! I can’t believe we both have schizophrenia imitating stories! haha!
I figured my last two posts were slightly depressing so I’d better do something a little more up beat.
I’m on a hot writing streak at the moment, but remind me later to tell you the story…it will make you snort through you nose and pee down your leg…hahaha.
Be encouraged!
That picture at the top reminds me of Southpark….”Screw you guys, I’m going home!”
haha! Yeah, I was going to put a picture of one of those volcano mummy guys caught in the lava but then I thought it might be too sick. Lol!
Lol your schizo act is always my plan B. My first plan is always using my keys as to slice someone’s face. Haha about the Good Humor man. I like how you pronounce it Goodjumer Man” Don’t pretend like you don’t. Hahah. I saw the Ice cream man the other day but I didn’t have any money! Trying to re-live childhood…
Some of my best memories came from Good Humor! Haha!
The Schizo act worked like a charm, obvi, since I’m still alive.
Well I’m sure glad David Berkowitz never caught up with you! I can’t remember if he was caught in the Bronx or Long Island but I remember the Summer of Sam quite well even though I was only 9.
Also, I LOVED those ice cream bars with the chocolate bar in the middle! This brings back fond memories of getting a quarter from my mother and running to the truck. I wish the Good Humor guy would drive down my street right now.
The Summer of Sam was scary, right? And when they finally caught him he was just what you’d imagine, kind of creepy and gross.
I wish I heard those bells right now, too. It’s hotter than Hades, here. I could use some delicious ice cream. Chasing that truck with my friends is one of my best summer mems. Glad you remember that ice cream with the chocolate bar – you may be the only one who does.
Wow, woman to think you were there for all that scary stuff. The rest of us gleaned info from news, movies, etc. I go into NYC as thinking everyone is good, helpful and they are, but I know that, as in any big city (and I’ve lived near many) you have to keep your guard up. That ice cream truck thing, where I live, it still happens! I come from those times…when everyone knew everyone and here I am, so close to NYC but still have that wonderful sense of everyone looking out for each other. Just goes to show, wherever you’re from, there’s always peeps that share the same mindset and “growing up” experience as you did. Great post.
I grew up in a little town outside of NYC. (Chappaqua) It was very rural and safe. Going into the city felt like entering another world. Back in the 1970′s NYC was pretty gross, there was way more crime, it was dirty and Time Square was just a string of triple X rated venues. Today, the city is unrecognizable from the way it was back then. I’ve seen people get pick pocketed, held at knife point, and I was once chased for a couple of blocks. Scary, right?
I consider myself to be a New Yorker even though I haven’t lived there for the past 20 or so years. I love that city and I love the people, even though they can be incredibly aggressive at times, I still love ‘em. They’re good people. We’re basically all the same on the inside.
The ice cream truck cracks me up. That would be a cool job, no pun intended. Everyone would always be happy to see you.
Have a beautiful day, Brigitte!
Even though the city is a lot safer, with a much higher quality of life, there’s a part of me that misses some of the old city you describe…
Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s a completely different city now. It’s like it had a renaissance. It was much more grimy back then. It’s still made up of the haves and have nots, and the core of it will never change, but it definitely has had a face lift, that’s for sure.
Ahaha “pretending” Suuuuuuuuuure
Glad you hear you have the hot weather, we have the opposite at the moment, on the news it said “A months worth of rain in 24 hours”, but how does that even make sense? What is a months worth of rain? If we’re having it in 24 hours then surely it’s 24 hours worth of rain, just a lot of it.
I don’t mind the rain, it’s just people don’t seem to know how drive in it. And I have a convertible so I’d much rather have your weather
Hahaha! Suuuuuure, yourself.
I know your fair complexion — you would get burnt like a crispy piece of bacon with your roof down over here. It’s so hot that it hurts your skin after a minute or two. OUCH! I don’t like the rain though, either, because it depresses the hell out of me. It’s not so much the “rain” as it is the never ending grey skies.
I do burn easily, guess it’s because I don’t use a tanning bed because you know… I’m a man. A lot of my friends go brown, I just go red then my skin peels and I look like I’m a lepper
The rain actually stopped yesterday and the sun came out, our weather is wierd.
Oh boy the ice cream truck..i would run the neighborhood kids down to be the first in line because I loved that icy, blast of air as he opened the side doors and for me my 2 favs were either a “nutty-buddy’ or blue popsickle..
You are so silly, acting like a schizophrenic..lol.. I would love to see a video of that!!!
Yeah… that blast of cold air was a treat in and of itself. I liked the blue Popsicle, as well. I believe it was called Blue Raspberry.
I was a crazy already, so it wasn’t much of a stretch! haha!
I shot tea out my nose at the thought of you in your 1970′s look jerking and twitching down the street!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You are brilliant, AGL!!
I was then, and remain, a drumstick gal. The trick was to bite off the end of the cone and eat the ice cream down to the fudge from the bottom. If nothing else, it killed time.
Ahh, yes, the tea through the nose trick! Glad you had a laugh. Acting insane was always my safety plan, truth be told. It works like a charm. haha!
They don’t really advertise the chocolate in the bottom of the cone. If I had known, I might have gone for that… Anything that you could eat slowly was always best.
Good Lord! The good humor man!!
The mere mention of the name made me drool and sent me running (until I injured myself by hitting a wall).
One of life’s great memories at no cost (except for the injury).
Curmudgeon, we seem to have a similar response to the Good Humor man. If only we could have been conditioned to do something worthwhile when we heard the bells instead of drooling and running chaotically into walls. What a shame…
I tried getting free ice cream once by acting disabled. My conscience got the better of me so I screamed and ran out. See, I relate to both your stories in one.
I have an ice cream truck come by my apartment a lot. Sometimes really late at night. Like 11. Who wants to run outside and get ice cream then? Well, all of us but it still seems shady.
Haha! That driver’s not shady, he’s smart. I would delay going to sleep if I knew the ice cream man was coming at 11:00. Ice cream is the one food that even if I’m full I can still manage to eat.
Ha ha! I think I may work on a schizophrenic routine myself. It’s got to be safer than carrying a loaded gun — which I would somehow manage to shoot myself in the foot with eventually — of course, that might add an element of realism to my schizophrenia routine. I knew we had a lot in common. It seems while you were “avoiding” Son of Sam I was “avoiding” the Green River Killer. Well, what can I say, I think we both the middle name of Danger (which you probably yelled out to strangers at odd intervals on your walks to Grand Central Station!! LOL!!)
LOL! Great minds think alike! I can’t think of a single serial killer who would chose the girl with the schizophrenia as his victim. It’s really a genius idea. I’m surprised they don’t teach it at those self-defense courses. Haha! I’m glad you survived the Green River Killer. Actually, come to think of it, he would have had his hands full with Peanuts! Haha!
lol… I love your first paragraph meanderings…. gave me a nice li’l chuckle
Thanks, Mike. I’m always pleased when I know I’ve made someone else laugh beside myself! It’s easy for me to meander, it’s probably what I do best.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting. I look forward to hearing from you again.
Have a great night.
Lisa
Despite the heat, I bet there’s one thing you have that neither Pompeii, nor 1970s NYC didn’t have: A lack of horrible odor.
See? Always a silver lining!
Hahaha! So true. I could probably do a whole post about the hot pungent smells that waft through the air in certain pockets of the city. So gross!!!
I am miffed that I have come late to commenting and as such everyone has said what I wanted to . i.e. Hahahahahaahahahahaa Classic! I could picture myself ‘pretending’ along with you and how you must have felt, both petrified and hilarious at the same time. Great post thanks for the laugh!
Haha! I’m glad you got a good laugh. I find that my questionable behaviors from the past make for the best posts. I’m nothing if not vulnerable and self-deprecating. Thanks for commenting and enjoying my terror! : )