I have been dying to show Maureen our new hangout…the caretakers house. I cased the joint again right after school, just to make sure I can still make entry. Seeing the window is just slightly ajar, it looks exactly how Jimmy and I left it.
Our house below…
Tonight, is date night, Maureen and I will have a picnic supper inside this really nice house we just inherited…
Our school pictures below…Maureen on the left, Donnie on the right.
Sure, we have no furnishings yet, but we’re just a young couple starting out. All our utility bills seem paid, everything works, that’s most important. So it’s time to just relax with my girl- friend- buddy- pal.
I’m not in the mood to be chased or hunted tonight. I just want to show this super foxy chic just how cool she really is!
Lots of older guys hit on my girlfriend and some even offer her rides in their fancy cars, I’ve seen it attempted. She always says (No)!
I’m telling you, there is (no one) I would rather share a fox hole with. She’s got my back!
We have packed a basket full of goodies. Peanut butter and and jelly sandwiches will be the main entree. I snuck 2 of my dads cheap beers out from his fridge.
I have my own fridge now, it’s just empty at the moment. Maureen and I may cook next time…it’s doable, we soon will both agree. I brought some Hershey’s Kisses for later, always thinking ahead!
But what I most look forward to is making popcorn. I have Jiffy-Pop hidden under a cloth in the picnic basket. This table cloth is hiding an assortment of, girly things, such as a red rose, Hershey’s Kisses, and reading material…
No BB guns or buck knives, tonight.
I will share the surprise items with her as soon as we unpack. We have a cassette player, I checked that box before leaving home. It has a two-hour tape. One side is Led Zeppelin and the other side is Steely Dan and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
All that is left to do now is to go through a hole in the fence. I just made it earlier this afternoon. Impossible to see from the inside due to shrubs, it is hardly noticeable when walking down the public street…outside.
My guess, it will last us a couple weeks until it’s found and fixed. I only need it tonight, anyhow.
I already know this girl can climb with the best of them. Fearless, I call her!… She has nothing left to prove. She was trained well. But tonight, she won’t have to climb.
I will do all the dirty work this evening, cut her a hole in the fence, fall through a window and be as smooth as Chevy Chase as I open the front door. I will then escort her and our picnic basket inside, across the threshold.
All goes accordingly, and as we tour our new home together.
Press play…Graham Nash
Her expressions are of surprise and amazement. She asks, while looking around, “Where are the bedrooms”…”Great question”… I quickly respond. I pick up the picnic basket and say “Follow me…I’m one step ahead of you”
We excitedly run up the stairs. We have the pick of two bedrooms that both look over a vast expanse of the backlot. We settle down in the one that we feel has the best view.
Summer is about to start, the tall eucalyptus trees are throwing long dark shadows on the Bewitchin’ Pool below us. We can see the Bavarian village that Young Frankenstein recently finished filming on, off in the distance. The towers and irregular rooftops look like layers on top of a cake. The pictures we see through our windows appear like album covers. Everything is extra groovy tonight.
The Ford Bronco even makes a courtesy drive by, slowly, on the dirt road behind us. We can’t quite tell who the lonely guard is tonight.
The setting sun casts a bright orange hew on the distant Bavarian village. It’s still painted exactly as it was in that film.
An Art Director couldn’t ask for more of a scenic atmosphere or background.
Maureen begins to unpack our basket as I fiddle with the radio/ cassette player.
“A candle”… Maureen asks?
“Yes, it will be dark soon, it’s a very small candle don’t worry” I sheepishly speak and smile simultaneously…”Oh, I’m not worried, just asking,” she adds.
“Ooohhh, nice pick, this looks like a good MAD magazine!” she begins to get excited…
“Popcorn?” her next question, as she holds it by the wire handle…”how will we pop this?”
“Downstairs, on our new oven top” I remind her. She turns all smiles and giggles and says “Let’s do it!”
My heart flutters
“Let’s make popcorn!” she says!
“Sure…sure Popcorn, yes, Popcorn,” of course, as I realize what she meant!
Downstairs, we pop corn as Steely Dan plays…“Reelin in the Years.”
Back upstairs, in our master bedroom, we share an apple. Then a jelly sandwich. The moon, in a crescent shape, is beginning to rise.
“This is the time the owls come out to hunt… let’s just listen to nothing for a bit.” She agrees… moments later, two owls swoosh, screech and dive in the field in front of us. Silhouetted against what is now a very dark blue sky.
Well that is as romantic as it gets I think to myself, watching owls hunt!
So out break the Hershey’s Kisses and we stick one in each others mouth…. like any grown up couple would do.
We lay down on the magically carpeted floor together, just as the moon peaks inside our bedroom window with its romantic blue tones. The leaves on the trees are blowing in a gentle breeze, I hit play on the cassette tape deck again…
Our mouths bask in chocolate…but our ears bask in the music.
Stairway to Heaven begins to play as only Stairway to Heaven can play…perfectly!
We crack open two Burgermeisters to toast this event. Our favorite song helps begin our first evening in our new pad.
Cheers Maureen, your the best side kick a fella can have…
Thanks MGM, everything’s sensational, as usual.
This is the type a moment that you wish never ends!
A Stairway to Heaven really exists in MGM
Phantom of the Backlots 
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post
was good. I don’t know who you are but definitely you are
going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
That is really cool of you to say!…It’s fun to reflect back when life was an adventure. Happy 4th Gabriela.