‘It is a bit windy most of the time these days don’t you think,’ asked Billy B.? ‘Not so much like the old days when you seldom felt a cool breeze in June,’ replied Chet. ‘I remember fondly our trips to Pounds Hollow with Neva J. and Jane as we drove down the dusty streets in her 57′ Chevy,’ Chet said as he smiled to himself. ‘The frogs croaked and the Bluejays played over our heads as we swam in the cool water, ‘Billy B. noted wistfully. ‘We did not drink lemonade so much but rather Kool-Aid and at times Choc-Ola,’ said Jane with a wink. ‘Don’t forget the Candy Cigarettes…I always had some Candy Cigarettes with me at the Hollow,’ Billy B. exclaimed. ‘How about the time that we convinced Junior to buy us some Charles Deneby Cigars when we told him that we had flushed Earl’s down the commode,’ Chet laughed. ‘The blue smoke hung in the air for days and I got sick from coughing, ‘Jane offered with a wink.

The fourth of July is soon to be here and that is a simple fact. The epitome of gunpowder revelry in Eldorado will be obtained with illegal cherry bombs and firecrackers. Billy B. was accustomed to the black pill-shaped forms that when you lit unrolled into what was referred to as a snake…sparklers were legal as well and they had a nice effect once darkness had fallen on the magic night. However, the most fun Billy B. had was with Roman Candles. Once lit they shot off several rounds of explosions and produced a colorful display against the black sky. You could see the Star-Lite Drive Inn’s Fireworks well from Grandma Askew’s front porch. The elite seating and ready popcorn and Coke produced glee for Billy B. and Chet and Jane and Neva J. The gigantic screen could be seen in the inky blackness as clear as day when the patriotic explosions were at their zenith. There were both mosquitoes to smack…unless you wanted to observe their stomachs grow large with the blood that they sucked from you…and fireflies to catch.

‘That looks like a funnel cloud near the Drive-Inn,’ said Jane as the fireworks show over the July Fourth assembly of cars and people sitting on their hoods laughing and gesturing with awe at the magnificent explosions. ‘Oh my God…there goes the screen,’ exclaimed Grandma A.!

‘What do they call this place…you told me once…but I seem to keep forgetting,’ Billy B. asked? Well…they made a television show about it called Lost…others call it Purgatory…I just call it the Waiting Room,’ Chet said matter of factly…