Hot n Tot

Daily Note

Every day, a photograph, a poem. As a teenager in the 1960s, a favorite teen pastime Friday and Saturday nights was to cruise Main Street with a carload of friends. I did not have a car– our family did not own a car. But, with friends, we’d drive from one end of town to the other– see who was out, wave hello, perhaps meet old friends or someone new. Maybe meet up at the Teen Club later for a dance.

Of course the favorite thing to do was to drive to the Big Boy for either a Purple Cow, a Brown Cow, or a Hot n’ Tot and a pizza burger, flyin’ style. Translated, that’s a grape milk shake, a root beer milkshake, or a cinnamon coke! The pizza burger flying style means the edges of the bread were sealed– in the old days, my days, they were round like flying saucers. Now, they are square and no longer flying saucers, still taste delicious. Some people, I’ve heard, order them flown frozen to their new place of residence. Nostalgia. Memories.

I remember once in Janice’s blue Volkswagon bug, we almost ran out of gas. We coasted into the gas station, but all we could find for cash– in our purses or from the floor– was a nickel! But guess what? That was enough to get home! Gas: 15c / gallon.

I’d say as teens, we were fortunate until the late 1960s. We had things to do and places to go with little worries, despite the issues of the time: Viet Nam and Civil Rights– history that shows we must stand up for what is right.

Hot N’ Tot

Main Street, the place to be
cars full of cruisin’ teens
honkin horns, waving “hi”
1960s, a past gone by

Teens grown old still return
back to Main, take the turn
a tricky move to get in line,
a drive-thru for dinner time.

Order with a Big Boy smile—
pizza burger, flying style,
Hot n’ tot or Purple Cow
Oh, I’d love to have one now.

Sheri Edwards
092522 270.365.22
Poetry/Photography
Photo from Bismarck Big Boy Drive In
April, 2019 on a “return” trip!

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