This morning I intended to head out briefly to get my wife and I a drink at Circle K and then head right home. Typically Jen and I will watch cooking shows and some other things for a while and then make the breakfast burritos for church tomorrow. Then go about whatever else we have going on.
My plans were foiled today thanks to all the roadwork in our little corner of the valley, at least for a while.
What I ended up doing was driving around and thinking about Saturday mornings when I was super young.
There was a little liquor store around the corner from my house I would walk down to and I’d get a little bottle of Coke for myself. Then I’d run home and go about my elementary school day. Except this one day.
I was walking down Prospect Avenue to the corner of Prospect and Fanita Dr where I’d hang a left and walk a short way to the market where I’d get my Coke. This particular Saturday I got about a half block when I was waylaid by this older guy doing something in his front yard, which was surrounded by a chainlink fence. There was a little dog running back and forth in the yard while the guy did whatever he was doing.
“Where you headed, kid?” he asked me.
I told him I was going to the store to get a Coke, and then go home for cartoons. They always seemed better on Saturdays. He asked me if I could do him a favor.
“What,” I asked.
He asked me if I could get him a paper when I got my “sodee pop,” he called it. He gave me two quarters and I went down to Fanita Market for my Coke and a newspaper. After that day, it became my Saturday morning ritual for a while. I’d walk past his house while his dog barked at me. He’d come out and give me .50c for a paper and a sodee pop.
Not sure how long I did it, but that Saturday started it off.
I thought of it today when I was headed to Circle K to get my wife and I a sodee pop.
A Work in Progress 