Grand Prairie (Part 2)

I think my Aunt Kay was kind of surprised that they had entrusted a key to such a relatively new 16 year-old employee but I took my job duties very seriously and made sure that I did everything that was expected of me.  The leftover donuts were a bonus on this closing shift.  Although I was supposed to throw them away, I would load them into trash bags and take them back home to Aunt Kay's house. We had discovered that when briefly heated in the microwave oven, the nearly day old donuts tasted close to fresh.  Also, my cousins had voracious appetites so this was good for everyone involved except for me.  One night, as I was totally focused on taking the store's trash out while separating the trash bags full of leftover donuts, I inadvertently locked myself out of the store.  I had no phone numbers.  I hadn't even remembered everyone's names at this point.  Aunt Kay and my cousin John came to pick me up at the usual time (at night--especially with the donut stash--I didn't risk walking home) and found me outside the store.  We quickly loaded the bags of old donuts into the car and then tried to figure out what to do.  As it turned out, the only thing we could do was call the police.  The Grand Prairie police came to the store and were able to open the door without management ever having to find out.  They didn't even ask me for ID.  I guess my uniform was enough for them.  My cousin John helped me finish cleaning the store and we were off to enjoy the day's take of donuts.

The summer wasn't all work.  My cousin John was then working at a place in Arlington as a busboy.  It was a restaurant with a fairly large staff.  One night, they were having a 4th of July party.  I was dropped off there and waited for him to finish his busboy duties and we were waiting for the party to begin.  Someone had promised to give us all of the alcohol we could consume.  I was ready.  I know that at some point I was drinking tequila.  This was a new alcohol experience for me and I liked it!  Before I got sick, I remember hearing a song piped into the speaker system:

Ooo wah, ooo wah cool, cool kitty 
Tell us about the boy from New York City 
Ooo wah, ooo wah c'mon kitty 
Tell us about the boy from New York City

I don't know why but I just started dancing until I fell over...yes, just dancing by myself to this catchy but irritating song.  By then, it was determined that we should leave--and not determined by us.  We decided that we could walk to Grand Prairie--from Arlington--at 1:00 am!  I know that each of us fell several times along the way.  We were lucky to have not faced any major harassment from passing motorists.  By the time we got to Grand Prairie, we took a break at the sign entrance to "Cottonwood Park."  I remember this sign very well because I vomited all over it. When we made it to the house, Aunt Kay wasn't very amused.  But at some point I do recall her laughing at us.  The next day, I had the worst hangover of this summer.  But I was still determined to do the one thing I wanted before returning to Pennsylvania.  I had saved enough money for a permanent wave.

(To be continued...)

Thomas Boylan · Grandprairie2.WAV