The Summer Of '86

I decided to turn a family story into a fictional scene. This is the beginning of the story of how my Dad met my mother.



It was 1986, a hot summer's day in Minnesota. The day was bright and the sun was shining. "It's going to be a hot one today ladies and gentleman.". The radio DJ blared through the speakers of Garret's Caddilac as he rolled down Lake Street. He whisked past the street signs a little over the speed limit. "Not to worry though." he thought. Even the cops wouldn't be out trying to catch petty speeders in this scorching heat. He pulled up into a nearby gas station to fill up the tank and grab a Cola.
"Garrett!". Someone yelled out coming from inside the store. Garrett turned up from the gas pump to see who. It was an old Job Corp. buddy, Bobby Wiles. "Hey man! Long time no see!" "Garrett Jones, brother what it up!". They slapped handshakes. "Boy, boy, you look good man! I see you lost some weight", Bobby said. "Yeah man, you know I had to get up in that gym and get it in for the summer. There are too many fine looking honeys out here this year.", Garrett said. "You ain't never lied man!" Just then a light-skinned, well figured woman walks past. She smiles at the two.
"Mmm, mmm,mmm! I see you girl!" says Bobby as he and Garrett watch as she passes by. "So anyways man, what you up to?" Bobby asked. "Oh, nothing much. Just cruising and what not, trying to find something to do. You wanna roll with?". "Oh yeah, most definitely man." Bobby replied. The hopped back on the road again, cruising through South Minneapolis. "So where you working at now?", Bobby asked. "I'm over at Northwestern Hospital, you know, doing janitorial services and what not." "Oh okay, that's what's up. I'm still over at Jimmy's." "You still work at Jimmy's Pizza Shack?" "Yeah man, I've been there for quite a while. I'm the manager now", Bobby replied. "Oh okay!", said Garrett. "I see you moving on up. You know I'm going to be by there to get the hook up." Bobby laughed. "You know I got you bruh. Anytime, come on through.
Garrett pulled into a K-Mart right off of Lake Street. "I gotta run in here to buy a fan. That old one my cousin Rico let me have broke. I have a feeling it was already broke when he gave it to me and by the grace of God, it worked for a good three weeks." "Oh yeah man, I still got some chairs Rico gave me from a while back. My mama came over one day, sat in one and the whole thing collapsed. Come to find out, there were no bolts on the screws. Your cousin is a stone cold trip", Bobby said. "You ain't never lied", said Garrett. The two walked into the K-Mart. The door security looked annoyed when he saw Bobby. Garrett noticed. "What's his problem?", Garrett asked Bobby. "I don't know. Every time I could up in here, he always has the look on his face like he got a stick up his butt." "You better watch out", Garrett replied. He might like that kind of stuff." "Hell naw man! He better go on somewhere with all that." Garrett chuckled. The two turned the corner at the soaps. The saw two women in the aisle, one who looked about 16 and the other, who was obviously her sister, that looked around 21. "Wow", Garrett whispered. "Who are they?". "Oh, that's the Rossum sisters. Boy, boy, boy. You gotta get to know them."