Circa 1977

The Time I Won a Radio in 9^th Grade

I am sitting in the darkened gymnasium of Quincy Senior High I, home of the Blue Devils.  We are having a dance with a live band—the Barking Spiders.  It is time to draw for the door prizes.  The lead singer (with long hair who looks like the guy from Journey—very cute with wide bell bottoms and a Western shirt with snap pockets) reaches into a bucket filled with pink tickets.  He reads off the number and I can’t believe he has called mine!  And now I have to get up and walk in front of the entire school to collect my prize—a transistor radio with a tiny white earplug.

I really want that prize because then I can listen to KGRC at night in my bedroom instead of in the living room.  But I know that as soon as I walk up in front of everyone, someone will laugh, or oink, or call me fat.  So I act like everyone else is stupid, and I am as cool as anyone.  I hope the lead singer will like my black and yellow sundress and my wedgie sandals.

I collect my radio and I love it.  It is new and still in the package and the earplug is all coiled up so neatly.   I can’t wait to go home and lie in bed and listen to the music that comes on at night.