The Inner Child August "Hot" Topic
For my debut post I thought I’d combine ice cream
and hot. So, here goes.
As a kid growing up in
a small bay side town in NJ, the local luncheonette was the perfect place to
hang out. It was also a favorite stop
for after church refreshments. The store’s allure consisted of a lunch counter
and a few booths, a penny candy display case, comic book racks, pinball
machines and open shelves for a variety of items.
The
after-church ritual began at noon as mom, my sister and I walked the half-block
to the store. We sat at the
counter, never in the booths. In winter I always ordered hot
chocolate covered in whipped cream. It
was so hot, I tested it with a spoon before taking a sip. In warmer weather,
I’d have a banana shake poured from one of those metal containers that are
taller than the glass so there is always extra.
With the drinks, I usually got two pieces of buttered toast. It was golden brown, greasy with butter and
tasted like heaven. Homemade toast never
came close.
When
the hot, dog-days of summer arrived, our focus was on the Dairy Freeze. Open from mid-April through Labor Day, its
specialty was vanilla and/or chocolate soft serve ice cream for ten cents. It costs five cents extra for sprinkles or a
chocolate shell coating.
We’d head to the Freeze
nearly every night after dinner. Sometimes I’d walk the two blocks myself and
bring back cones for my mom, dad and sister in a carryout box. My success at this endeavor depended on how
hot and humid the day was. Regardless, I usually had to lick the dripping cones
to keep them from melting all over the box.
Maybe that was the reason I never minded getting cones for
everyone. And if my family minded their
cones being licked, they never said.
What does this have to do with writing? Attention to details can really set the time/place of a story and make us feel like we are there with the characters. Remember what it was like to be ten, carrying that box of take out cones…licking each one to keep them from melting? Finding that “kid within” is what makes our middle grade stories sing.
Darlene Beck Jacobson
www.darlenebeckjacobson.com
Darlene,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great image of ten-year-old you carrying to-go cones home from the Dairy Freeze! It's so true what you say about drawing on those childhood memories for middle grade stories!
Tamera
Yes! Little details add up to create an entire landscape...
ReplyDelete