About this blog....

Welcome to Things In My Rear view Mirror. This is a collection of stories based on true events throughout my life. Some are very good memories, some are not so good. However, all are written from my point of view at the age they occurred. No harm, pain or otherwise negativity is meant with my writing. This blog is intended to help me heal as well as share with those important in my life the good, the bad, the ups and the downs that make me who I am and who I am proud to be today.
And no, I do not and will not change names.
All material, stories, pictures, videos on this blog and all it's pages are completely and fully the original work of Janet Jones and are not permitted to be used in any form without express written permission of the author Janet Jones. Protected by Copyscape DMCA Takedown Notice Infringement Search Tool

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Bubblegum Eyes Scandal...

As the sun hits the mid way mark in the sky the heat index begins to climb. It looks like it will be another typical hot Texas summer afternoon. I shove my feet into my flip flops and take off down the stairs towards the courtyard where Billy Joe is standing.

Walking up to Billy Joe I catch his eye and he puts his finger to his lips hissing a quiet shhhhhh.  He points to a groups of guys sitting on their apartment porch hanging out laughing, smoking and playing their guitars. Confused at what he is getting at I raise my eyebrow as if to ask him what's going on.

Billy Joe says, "You want ice cream today right?" I nod my head slowly and he then says, "Watch this."  I stand by watching him and wondering what he could possibly be up to this time.

Casually, as if he had done it a million times, Billy Joe walks up to the group of guys and positions himself into a leaning position against the door frame to their apartment. He is pretty much given a quick once over by the guys but other than that isn't given much attention.

Over the course of the next 10 minutes or so Billy Joe begins to ask the group of guys what is entirely too many questions. I couldn't quite hear what was being said but the looks on their faces and the glances they were giving Billy Joe clearly told the story of the building frustration the guys were having towards him.

Eventually the guys handed something to Billy Joe and he turned towards me with a huge cat ate the canary smile on his face. He practically danced over to me with his accomplishment plastered on his face and promptly stopped right in front of me. Opening his hand and revealing a pair of shiny quarters he exclaimed, "Ice cream money!"

Suddenly everything became clear to me and I realized he had just taught me what I eventually named the Bubble Gum Eyes Scandal.  You see every single day the ice cream truck came through the apartment complex peddling his goods. And every day I had wished I had enough money to get the one with the bubble gum eyes.  However, Aunt Linda only gave us between .50 and a dollar but the bubble gum eyes cost $1.25. So, I either had to go without ice cream one day to have enough the next day or more often than not I simply got the cheaper selection. 

However, now I had a plan of action.  Each day, I became the little girl with the freckles and pigtails that danced over to that group of guys and pestered the hell out of them until they paid me quarters to leave. With the money I had just conned out of the guitar guys added to the money Aunt Linda gave me I knew I would soon be enjoying the deliciousness of the bubble gum eyes ice cream.  And everyday I heard the magical call of the ice cream truck I knew I had accomplished another task in the Bubble Gum Eyes Scandal.

Little did I realize that years later as an adult I would run into one of those guys and we would eventually meet, fall in love and get married. Me realizing he was one of those "guitar guys" and him realizing I was that freckle faced little girl pestering him for quarters.

2 comments:

  1. It's official, I know where my Megan gets her charm!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there PieGuy!

    Thank you for the compliment. At least that is the way I am taking it! :)

    So, solve my mystery for me and tell me who you are?

    Janet~~

    ReplyDelete