BEFORE SLURPPIES

BY

LOUISE BARTHOLOMEW

Air conditioned cars may have existed back then, but the 1947 Plymouth I was driving that hot summer day was not one of them. Rolling down the window to let in some air was like opening the door of a blast furnace. It dried the sweat, but let you parched inside and out. We started to dehydrate the moment we got into the car which had been parked in full sun on Main Street, while we, my daughter Penny and her friend Patsy and I had partaken of lunch with my husband in a cool dark restaurant.

Almost on the verge of heat stroke by the time we reached the outskirts of town, we were delighted to see before us shimmering in a mirage-like haze, an A&W Root Beer Stand. However, it was on the opposite side of the street, and as the ink was barely dry on my driver's license, there was no way I was going to make a U-turn to get to it, even on a not so busy street. Penny and Patsy solved the problem. "Stop the car," they yelled. I slowed and coasted to the curb. They hopped out, and with barely a glance at traffic, dashed across the street. Watching them negotiate the heat waves rising from the asphalt, I hoped their destination was not a mirage. It wasn't! Laughing and giggling they returned carrying something called a Root Beer Freeze.

Icy rivulets ran down the side of the contained they handed me. I tipped it to my sere lips, and down my throat trickled the most delectable drink I had ever tasted. Tangy, zesty, yet rich smooth and velvety, no words could adequately describe it. Suddenly it didn't matter if the outside temperature was 110 degrees, inside I was cool, cool, cool! The girls looked at me and laughed at my wide eyed wonder and enjoyment and the rude slurping sounds I made as I reached the bottom. I laughed back contentedly.

Reaching out I turned the key in the ignition and headed for home in a 1947 unairconditioned Plymouth car, but we had found a cool antidote for that problem.

Spooning Byers French Vanilla ice cream from the freezer into a tall glass and popping the tab on a can of A&W Root Beer to pour over it, I stirred until I had an approximation of my long ago libation. It fizzed and went down smoothly, but somehow drinking it sitting here in my air conditioned living room, it didn't match the memory.