We waited impatiently for the school year to end and for another blistering hot summer to saunter in. Longed for yet another year to evaporate in Carle Place Long Island and for the nothingness of summer to begin...

 

Standing on lunch lines in concrete-block hallways painted pale green dreaming of summer, we counted down with paper chains and tally marks, made Chinese jump ropes from rubber bands, played tag and statues in overgrown fields as dandelion dust turned our chins to gold. 

 

​​We waited...

 

As summer seeped in, we pushed pedals on Schwinns bedecked with shiny streamers, shook accordion-pleated paper fans at reticent air, awaited breezes under trees, gulped giant sips of water from the hose, then turned the hose on our toes.

 

We burned our bare feet on hot concrete, tediously tightened metal skates as skate keys dangled from colorful crisscrossed handmade plastic lanyards, then gleefully wheeled down breezy shady streets, whooping wildly, arms outstretched, faces flushed, hair drenched with sweat, sounds of our roller skates jolted by small twigs and sidewalk cracks.

 

Immobilized by the heat we craved the cool and timidly taunted oscillating spinning sprinklers, floated for hours in small backyard pools laughingly showing off white shriveled fingertips, restlessly flipped pillows from one side to the other over and over all night long.

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“C’mon in, we’re air-cooled!” bragged signs at the local theaters hawking brief relief. Inside, boisterous unruly junior high schoolers dodged stern flashlight-carrying movie theater matrons charged with maintaining order while banishing badly behaved kids to the back rows or balcony, as double features droned on and on and melting vanilla bonbons leaked onto sagging red velvet seats.  

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​Bored by the redundancy of thirty-one-nothing-to-do August days, we flopped on grass and found shapes in clouds, plucked purple-capped sweet tasting weeds, played hot potato with dirty hands, chalked hopscotch squares on macadam paved streets and searched for a perfect potsy among small shimmery stones. 

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We watched steam rise from hot sidewalks cooled by rain, sat on stoops and slung hoola-hoops, cartwheeled in circles and played kick the can. We watched ice melt, counted our coins, waited for customers at lemonade stands.  We counted red cars and blue cars, dodged dizzy honey-seeking bees, nudged soft fuzzy caterpillars inching up the trees, and swatted big mosquitoes with our sweaty little hands.

 

Aching for sweet confections to cool our sunburned lips, we waited forever for the ice cream man to bring toasted almonds and drippy double sticks. ​​

 

Dazed by the never-ending heat, we chased the humidity and each other down the street, playing endless rounds of dodgeball, Mother May I? Red Light, Green Light, and Tag You're It.  Then we waited some more for something to do...

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​Sweltering summer days stuttered and stalled.  We waited for the sun to go down, for the heat to abate, for the streetlights to go on, for the fireflies and big moths to surround the porch light, for the time to pass...

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​​Then in overgrown acres of dry dusty fields we waited impatiently for the slowly shuffling-summer days to end, longing to pass notes to our friends in cinder block hallways painted pale green and for the unknowingness of yet another school year to meander in ...

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