Simplicity

 Simplicity.  That was the way of life on Burke Avenue when I was a young child.  Go back there with me.  Prestonsburg Drive In was at the end of the street.  The entrance to the drive in was on University Drive, the screen was about where Food City's Gas N Go is now.  But the kids of Blackbottom would climb through the barbed wire fence at the end of Burke Avenue.  The Harmon's lived at the end of the street, I think Mr. Harmon was the caretaker because if he caught us, he would yell at us to get out of there.  During the day we would love to ride our bikes over the humps, getting airborne for a brief moment if we went fast enough.  The neighborhood kids would go down there during the day and feed the horse who lived in the pasture on the other side of the huge drive in lot.  But as the sun went down, and the cars started streaming in, we would return to watch the opening cartoons, brightly shining on the really big screen.  Naturally, we also would sneak around the cars, looking at the steamed up windows.  

Another favorite business was Cooley's Store.   They had just about anything you would want in a neighborhood store.  I remember it had two big plate glass windows in the front with low iron poles stretched across to keep cars from plowing in to them.  I always thought they were hitching posts for horses.  Man you were rich if you had a quarter.   You could get a cup of ice cream and eat it with a little wooden paddle.  On hot days we might get a bottle of red pop, ice cold, out of the cooler in the back and use the bottle opener on the front of the machine.  Naturally we would fish out the bottle cap and keep it!  Then we would head up to the candy aisle for penny candy.   Little wax bottles shaped like pop bottles, full of sour liquid, Bazooka gum, Turkish Taffy, Chocolate Ice Cubes, cinnamon suckers were favorites.  I remember Mr. Cooley, or Uncle Bill as we all called him, leaning back in an old chair in the rear of the store.  He would sit back there and doze, but always ready to slice off some bologna if anyone opened the front door and rang the bell.  Us kids would ride our bikes over there, load up on a quarter's worth of goodies and head back into the bottom, one big swarm. Community Methodist Church was an active place in the neighborhood, the women of the church always there to clean the sanctuary or organize a yard sale.  The ladies sold spices to raise money for choir robes and these horrible looking fruit cakes at Christmas time.  The church parking lot was a great place to ride bikes because it was always full of mud holes and puddles just begging for someone to split.  Simplicity.   Food was so simple.   Cereal for breakfast, then out the door you went.  I never remember my mother watching me ride bikes or play.  Who knows what she did!  Unless you were bleeding, and bleeding badly, you didn't go back in the house until lunch.  For me lunch was a bowl of tomato soup or my favorite - a mustard sandwich!  Then back outside to find other kids to play with.  Dana, Sabrina, Becky, Bobby, Beverly, Ronnie, Terri, so many kids with different likes and interests.  Becky loved Barbies while Terri loved cowboys and horses.   I was friends with both, so I had bow-legged Barbies who got that way from riding Breyer horses.  Skates boards and bikes with banana seats, yo yo's and paddle balls, badminton, Frisbee and lawn jarts, Ouija Boards and Twister, these I remember with fondness.  My parents got us a trampoline, very cool, and it became a popular neighborhood hangout spot.  In the afternoon we might load up in the car and head to Archer Park for some swimming.  I swam so much that often dad would have to bring "New Skin" home from the drug store, which I would paint on the bottom of my toes to keep them from bleeding from the pool.  4 o'clock.  Time for 3 things to happen:   Mr. Cartoon then Gilligan's Island, Mom would start supper, and then she would turn on the big air conditioner.  No matter how hot it was, she would not start that big ole monster up until she started to cook.  The rest of the meal would vary but one thing always was there - mashed potatoes!  You either ate what she cooked, or starved, she was not going to cater to anyone.  After supper it was time to play in the street.   We would play badminton under the street lights, play red light, of course always bare footed.  I always had a good pair of Red Ball sneakers, but seldom wore them.  Naturally we would end the night capturing lightning bugs and storing them in jelly jars with tiny holes poked in the lids.  Simplicity.  It was a good life.