If there is one thing the scamdemic, excuse me again, pandemic has caused, it's boredom and loneliness. With those two things comes not only a lack of communication, but a lack of laughter. I have been trying to remember the last time I really laughed, especially at myself. It seemed like years since I have done something crazy that I could share and hopefully make other people laugh too. Then I saw a notice that an old acquaintance had passed.
It had been years since we had visited and even more than a few years that we had shared time together. She had moved next door before I was a teenager. Her laughter was so contagious and her sense of humor ran right alongside of mine. As I thought about her, I remembered a few of our times together, where we laughed like idiots and thought those memories might bring a smile to someone else.
We both loved music and we both loved to dance. One night, having nothing much to do, we sat in her bedroom listening to music. She had a small record player and a stack of 45's. Man, those were the days! After a few tunes, she had the most wonderful idea. We would dance around a fire in the dark. Thinking it sounded like a great time, I quizzed her about where we would get a fire. I guess I thought maybe she had a candle stashed somewhere in her room. She thought for a moment and then her face lit up and her eyes sparkled. I don't remember if she had the items in her room or if she went downstairs to get them. What I do remember is her setting a ceramic cereal bowl in the middle of the room, filling it about half full of lighter fluid, striking a match and there it was, a bowl of fire. She doused the lights and cranked up to volume to "Born To Be Wild", seemed fitting, and we boogied around the bowl full of dancing flames. When the song was over, she turned the lights back on. I will never forget the look on her face. The room was so full of smoke that we could barely see each other. We surely opened a window or two, but all I can remember is the hysterical laughter.
The next one is probably my most favorite and even after all this time, when I replay it over in my head, I can barely keep from laughing out loud. This time we were on my front porch steps. It was a warm summer night and already dark. There were a couple of guys cruising around the block in a car. One of the guys liked my friend, but she had no real interest in him. Each time they would drive by, the one guy would holler at her house. They didn't see that she was with me on the steps. After three or four rounds of this, she had an idea. As soon as the car sped around the corner, she told me she would be right back. She ran as fast as she could to her house, grabbed an egg out of their refrigerator and ran back to me. Then she told me her plan. From there, she ran directly across the street from my house and laid down in the ditch. I waited and it wasn't but a minute or two that I could hear the car approaching again. Our street ended right in front of her house and the car had to stop under the street light. This time, the infatuated guy hopped up on the door through the open window on the passenger side. He was whooping and calling out to her and that's when the magic happened. There was just enough light for me to see it. She raised up out of that ditch and let the egg fly. It could not have been a more perfect shot. It landed on the roof of the car directly in front of 'Romeo'. I nearly fell off the steps laughing as the spurned wanna be boyfriend and his friend screeched around the corner. When they were out of sight, she came back across the road and asked if she hit the target. When she discovered her aim had been perfect, peals of laughter split the hot summer night air.
It was good to think of her and those times so many years ago and I hope the stories brought a smile to your face and spurred an event in your past that you haven't thought about in a long time.
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