Our Big Imaginations
By Mary Hill
I told this story in part in another post, but reading back over it I think it needs some explanation and to be told fully for readers to appreciate what happened when I lived in Lauderhill, Fla. as a youngster the summer before starting fifth grade. Both my parents worked, so we were latchkey kids. I know today that would be unacceptable because the oldest of us was just 12 and the youngest 5.
We were the four musketeers though. We also had big imaginations. I mean we turned our empty swimming pool into the Battlestar Galactica and a riding lawn mower and a wheel barrel into jet fighters and Clingon war ships. No, oops it was Cylon fighters. I can’t mix up my aliens. Clingons were in Star Trek. Instead of tribbles they had daggits. We had a dog named Rainbow, she was part husky and part German shepherd. She became our daggit complete with my dad’s tool belt strapped on her back.
When we weren’t playing Battlestar Galitica, we were watching television to get out of the heat of the day. Only problem, our television was broke, and my parents couldn’t afford to get it fixed or replace it. All that you could see on the television was a thin line in the center of the screen. We listened to most of Battlestar Galitica and reruns of Gilligan Islands that year. We would get up as close as we could to the television hoping and praying we’d see something in the thin line. “Hey, I saw Gilligan kissing Maryanne.”
With the big imaginations came big trouble. We were always looking for the mysterious or bad guy around the corner. We used to climb over our side fence and spy on our old neighbor as he ate his lunch on the patio. “Cylon sighted commander.” “Hit him with your death ray and get back to the Galatica, Apollo.” He’d see us and yell to get away. We would run for fear for our lives. “Watch out, he has a death ray.” My siblings would laugh as we catapulted over his fence. Poor guy, we probably spoiled his lunch a lot. I hope he at least found us humorous, but I think he was more of the Mr. Wilson type, and we were the Dennis the Menaces.
Kids left alone can get into mischief, and we were no exception. We couldn’t afford admission to our local pool; so we used to go the park to reenact scenes from our favorite show. Instead of lasers, we used the water sprinklers. Hey, the grass still got watered. We just helped out with our mock battles. We commadered the sprinklers and started turning them toward each other. It was just good, honest fun until my brothers had to take it one step further; spraying everyone in sight: the park workers included, and then the security guard who ran after us after getting so soaking wet, he fell down the little hill into spiny bushes. True story, I to this day, feel bad about the security guard taking the tumble. I mean he could have been really hurt.
For my next tale: Don’t Skip School with a Dummy. On second thought, I’ll save that story for next week. I’ll throw a freebie in too. “The Disco Marathon.” Now to stroll down memory lane and listen to some of my favorite tunes from that year so long ago. If you recognize any of these songs, face it you are old.
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Those are some nice memories. I have a lot of fond memories of racing around the neighborhood, playing in the creek, hot as sin outside. Fun!
Boy, that brought back memories! 🙂 Yep, we played Battlestar Galatica, too amongst other things. We were even latchkey kids! LOL Great story! Thank you for linking up with the Humor Me! Blog Hop!!! 🙂
Hey! would love for you to join this hop in which I’m the co-host so come link up. http://pinkowl07.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-am-eve-blog-hop.html
I recognize the songs so can’t deny I am old LOL. What a cute story! Made me think of the summers of my own childhood back in the 70s.
My sister and I got into lots of trouble too. Good clean trouble but trouble nonetheless. We had a great time and remain very close to this day.
I remember those songs, but I was born in 1951 so of course I’d remember those songs.
Fun post.
Have a terrific day. ☺
My Mom was always around–but with 7 of us kids, we always had a sibling or a few siblings to have an adventure with–I think we were usually exploring the Old West on our adventures. And my Mom recalls that she could get us to do any amount of chores or homework if she would allow us to watch Gilligan’s Island every day.
We were latchkey kids, too (but not until I was a bit older) and my brothers got into all sorts of trouble. Of course, even when my mom was home, we were still outside all day, doing all sorts of fun things. I have no doubt, if our TV were broken, our kids would do the same as you. A strip of TV is better than no TV as far as they are concerned!
Kids were indeed imagination-fueled when I grew up, we could spend hours and days playing make-believe and having wonderful adventures, no batteries, electronics, or trips to the mall required! I remember my friend and I and our dolls camping out in her Dad’s fishing boat for two days, pretending we were on an ocean voyage. I’m sure today’s kids would shake their heads, but we loved every minute of it! This was a great contribution to Two Shoes Tuesday, thank you so much for joining us this week!
A great post and one I enjoyed very much. Take care.
Yvonne.
I don’t like your definition of “old.” I do enjoy reading your blog posts, though.
Sorry. 🙂 Oops.
Glad you all found ways to have fun. Imagination is a great motivator when there’s no television or the amenities you desire. Thanks for sharing, this was a fun read.