Summer Days

When I was walking home today, I heard a sound that always takes me back to my childhood.

Instantly I am transported back into the body of a scrawny pale red-headed girl with an easy smile that seemed out of place under intense brown eyes. The sound would creep into the red brick of our suburban house, past the blue shutters on the windows, and the wood door. Sometimes it would drift around the house all together and sneak into the backyard where I may have been swinging or telling stories. Sometimes it would drift to me playing in my room or in the back of the house. At first it would cause a head tilt - a questioning of if the sound was actually there or only imagined. As it slowly grew in volume, thoughts would be confirmed. I would scramble to my feet, which were probably bare, and stuff my hands into my pockets. I would run, trying to find the first parent I could to beg for change. After the appropriate amount of quarters, dimes, and nickles were counted into my small reaching hand, I would clutch my fingers around the shining round pieces and bolt off. You never knew if it would come down our cul-de-sac, or just sit at the top of the road for a bit. Skinny legs with knobby scarred knees would pump, as I burst out of the house towards the sound. A large, colorful truck that the other kids were already streaming towards as well. Then it would be time to come to a decision - a rocket pop? A push-pop? No, today it would be a Good Humor Chip 'n' Dale Fudge Bar. I would push the coins into the hand of the vender, who would grin at me and hand me my treat. In the burning Kentucky heat, a good majority of it would be melted on my hand half-way through eating - but it didn't matter. My friends and I would sit around, faces covered with blue syrup, fudge, and a variety of other sticky residues - which would be quickly transferred to whatever clothing we were wearing. And then it was time to be off again - to bike races, sprinkler runs, or water gun fights.

Oh, summer.

Now if it was only 20 or 30 degrees warmer in Chicago....