1969

Just so you know The Brat and The Critter were relatively normal kids. Not that we've ever been truly "normal" since we both tend to march to a different drummer than most females but closer then than now. Follow me, please:

The year is 1969 and what a sweet time it was! We weren't allowed to go past 18th street on our bikes since 18th was a "busy" street. And just our luck A&W was the other side of 18th. Now what 8 year olds are not gonna break that rule? So on those hot summer days when we had an extra quarter we would sneak down to the A&W for a frosty mug. There was a barrel on the wall with a spigot and they would fill it in a mug straight from the freezer.

I can almost taste it now, after all these years. We'd drink as fast as we could hoping Brat's momma didn't notice we were gone. She always seem to want to catch us up to something more than mine. But we couldn't drink too fast because we'd get one of those cold headaches. We'd sit in the air condition restaurant and cool off, neither of us having AC, not that we considered this a deprivation or anything. No one I knew had AC then and somehow we all survived.

Anyway, we actually sat there in those booths on those red plastic seats and got cold and laughed at how smart and sneaky we were. They never caught us at this. One of several things we got away with. I can see us now. As opposite in looks as you can get. One dark haired, dark eyed and the other blond and blue eyed but two little kindred spirits on a mission.

Afterwards, we would hop back on our bikes--Stingrays (mine was blue, I got it NEW and was so proud of it!) and head back to our neighborhood and play the innocent little darlings that we weren't. But even so our mischief and antics were relatively mild as you can see.

The A&W went out of business years ago. For awhile the building was there. I can't remember what took it's place but now the Rolling Pin Bakery uses the area for a parking lot. Ah....the Rolling Pin now that reminds me of anther story...