These are the Dog Days. I have thought that the term Dog Days was a metaphor for hot days. ‘They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star Sirius (known colloquially as the ‘Dog Star), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. The Dog Days run from July 3 – August 11, 2025.’

Summer Memories are abundant in the Dog Days. The only thing that drove me outside in the summer was the heat; the only thing that drove me inside was the heat. Air Conditioning was a rare thing for working and poor people. Fans were everywhere, which felt like a furnace blower engulfing the person sitting in front of it. They were good for making robot voices. The television show Twilight Zone was a favorite of mine. The show opened worlds that I had not considered. Rod Serling was a bit of a prophet. The weekly shows offered an alternative way to see the world. There were nuances to what appeared to be a concrete reality. One Twilight Zone episode illustrated the near-death of a patriarch of the family and their gathering to swoon and supplicate over him, theatrically. The Old Man assigned to each greedy family member a Theatre Mask that depicted their inner, hidden self. When they removed the masks, their faces had frozen into the warped depiction of the masks.

We hide ourselves from others. We have a work version and a church version…even the real thing that we display when no one is looking. We have worn our masks so long that we do not recognize when our leaders are wearing their masks with pride. What we have learned to accept as the truth, we see in our masked leader. He is just like us. Perhaps he is the Saviour we have been waiting for.

Time flies when you are having fun. Summer in the ’60s was a blur of Pounds Hollow swim days and Oscar Mayer Wieners. There was also Moo and Cackle hamburgers, which were the best hamburgers I’ve ever put in my mouth. In those Halcyon days, you could purchase five Moo And Cackle Hamburgers for a dollar. Moo and Cackle were a thrill of summer. Neva J and many others liked the Lottaburger in Eldorado. I preferred Moo and Cackle. This was the day of being close to your car. Motels were the in overnight stay. You could pull your automobile up to the door of your Motel room, and it was just like home. Lottaburger was popular for the same concept as the servers came to your car window to take your Lottaburger order and then deliver it to your ride. Lottaburger was no Moo and Cackle.

We looked for the unseen as most Twilight Zone aficionados do. Cousin Billy Gene loved Monster magazines and Universal Studios Monster Masks. Eldorado was a fine little town to reflect on the hidden realities just beyond our sight. Indeed, the world we lived in had much suffering and pain. There was the Vietnam War, where many of our friends and family were serving and dying. Our President was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. This was an earth-shaking event. The Vietnam War was protested across the country. At the end of the 60s, four students were gunned down by the National Guard for nothing more than disagreeing with the War. We had our hopes in the fallen President’s brother Bobby, who was assassinated in California. Before that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King embodied the hope of reconciliation in the United States.

Most of our senior classmen had grown their hair long in solidarity with the times we lived in. I was one of the few who did not. I had my eyes on a Christian life and perhaps becoming a minister. The world was before me, and I jumped into the deep end of the pool. It was very cold. And deep. A few times, I struggled to surface for air. I have always done things my way. I eschewed authority figures. I was never a go-along, get-along guy. I wanted to be a voice for those who have none.

So the Twilight Zone taught me to look behind the mask. There is a hidden world.