What are misc. moments? Well, for me, they are those moments, those memories, that make up life. But unlike some memories that I can commit a good many to in writing them out, these misc. moments are simply snippets. They are the random thought that occurs now and then that causes me to say, “I remember that.”
Here is the first of a few misc. moments. I’ll share these from time to time, perhaps with a central theme, perhaps not.
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While living in Sikeston, my friend Stephen and I would occasionally play at tennis. We’d play at the high school or some old courts at Central Park. To say we played tennis would be laughable. We just the ball back and forth to each other trying to keep it inside the doubles line. Even though we played singles, we used the doubles markings. Many times we’d hit the ball so hard and so high that it would sail over the fence. In time, that became all a part of the game. Of course, if you hit a “home run” then you had to go chance down the ball. These hits became known as “Wild Hitter Fetches.”
Kirby’s Sandwich Shop is located on N. Kings Highway just up from the corner of E. Front Street. Kirby’s makes the best hamburger and fries in the country. Of course, we all have stories of our hometown burgers are the best. But mine actually are, although there is nothing particularly fascinating about them. Saturday afternoons would usually find Stephen and I at Kirby’s. We’d order our burger and fries and a Coca-Cola. This was not Coca-Cola from a machine or a twist top plastic bottle. This was Coca-Cola in the green glass bottle. The waitress would pry the cap off and then place a hard plastic cup over the top of the bottle and bring it to our table. The plastic cup used to be clear but was now dingy from years of use and washing. Before the bottle of Coca-Cola was empty we’d lift the bottle and tip it slightly to see where the bottle was manufactured. I am sure we somehow kept track of where all our bottles came from, but I can’t remember exactly how many different places we discovered. I am sure it was a lot though. Just like I am sure that Kirby’s still makes the best burger.
We lived for awhile in Paducah, Kentucky. It was about an hour from Sikeston. On some weekends we’d drive over. This meant that on Saturday mornings I’d wake up and run out to meet my friends Randy, Craig and Rodney. We’d search the neighborhood for bottles and return them for the deposit at the Big Star. Then we’d head down to the Malone Theater for a matinee. If was a James Bond or spy movie, or some other type of action-adventure, so much the better. We’d spend the rest of the weekend playing out the film. Playing spies was so much fun.
I broke my first pair of glasses during a Saturday matinee at the Malone. It was required for a theater full of kids to stomp their feet whenever the film broke. One Saturday it did. So I did. Stomp that is. I stomped. The glasses fell off my lap and onto the floor. They wound up under my feet. I stomped. They broke.
Most of the time now when you go in search of models, it is going to be of a car, a plane or a ship. Sometimes you can find model military equipment; things like Sherman and Panzer Tiger tanks of the WWII era. What you don’t see much of anymore are plastic model kits of monsters. My friend Randy had an extensive collection of these. He had the Creature from Black Lagoon, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, The Werewolf, Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein’s Monster. He also had a Chamber of Horror Guillotine. When I was a kid I thought these were so neat. Randy’s is also where we’d usually get together to watch Dark Shadows.
Great memories from a much simpler time.
More to follow...
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