You Can Be A Jerk With A Hickey!

When I was a kid there were no fast food places to work to earn money for school clothes or kid activities. In fact, myself and most of my friends had to work in the fruit fields to earn that kind of money. Our parents just did not have money to restock our clothes closets if we wanted new clothes for the new school year. We therefore picked prunes, grapes, hops, walnuts, and cut pears. By cutting pears I mean we had a box of pears put alongside of us as we stood by a very large wooden tray (about 6 feet long by 3 feet wide) and cut the pear in half, scooped out the seeds and laid the open pear face up on the tray. When the tray was full, the farmer took it and stacked it on other full trays until it was high enough to be put into sulfur sheds to dry. As you got older you might be lucky enough to get a job at an ice cream parlor, or as they were called, a soda fountain. Working there you became a "soda jerk." I was lucky enough to be a soda jerk at a place called Bouks. I remember we made a concoction with orange sherbert, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a cherry and it was called a "Hickey." Upstairs from the soda fountain soldiers were stationed. It was during World War II. I believe they were the 17th Infantry. More about that later. The other job I was lucky enough to get was an usher at the Tower Theater. I really thought I was something in my two tone blue satin uniform with all the rhinestones gleaming from it. Flashlight in hand, strutting up and down the aisle telling smart alecks to get their feet off the seats in front of them or I would whack them with my flashlight. We could do that back then and nobody sued or yelled foul! Our manager would back us up or "throw the bum out." It really was not all that bad. I am just having fun and taking writer priveleges. Kids did not use dirty words nor were they ever that mean. At least not that I remember. I could walk home from work at midnight and never be afraid. Well, I am getting a bit ahead of myself so will continue this a bit later and get back to the hop fields and what came after.