My Endless Summer
The Hotel del Coronado, 1888
In 1962 I turned thirteen. My mind turned to thoughts of girls. I had always been interested in the fairer sex, but it wasn’t until I met Carol that I found a girl who was interested in me. She was in my seventh grade summer school French class.
From Cold ‘Coon & Collards:
Her desk was in the next row, even with mine. When I could, I would steal a sideways glance at her, looking pretty and poised as she concentrated on the lesson. The next time I peeked, her head was turned and her blue eyes were looking right at mine, a faint smile on her freckled face.
I smiled back, then turned away until the bell rang. French was the last class of the day, and we found ourselves walking home together.
Carol Boggs (not her real name) was the eldest daughter of Chief Boggs, the senior enlisted man on the USS Lexington, the same aircraft carrier on which my dad served as the Protestant Chaplain. Since both of our fathers were away cruising the South China Sea, like most of the Navy Brats in Coronado, we had a good deal of freedom that summer.
Carol and I walked to the beach after school, poked around in the colorful tide pools next to the old Victorian resort, and were occasionally tumbled by the waves when we went into the surf. Although we were barely teenagers, we went on movie dates and played spin-the-bottle. One memorable day I took her to the Navy Relief fair on the airbase.
The Rock-O-Plane
The fair had rides, refreshments, and games with prizes. We rode the scariest ride, the Rock-O-Plane, and Carol held my hand. When our cage went over the top, we spun upside down, and she screamed, laughed, and threw her arms around me. This was heady stuff for a thirteen-year-old wimp like me.
Before the date was over, we had eaten Pronto Pups, shared a pink lemonade with two straws, and I had won an enormous stuffed purple Panda Bear for Carol. What a day! You can read the rest of the story in Cold ‘Coon & Collards, now available in a Kindle version for the low, low price of $4.19!