Saturday in The Park

Maybe when she got married and had her first child, she would feel as exhilarated as she did this Saturday as she and her friends attended a Festival in their Local Park District.  Everyone was there and everyone that was someone joined in.

The sky showed not one cloud. The June breeze was beautiful.   Being 20 years old was beautiful.  The young woman was discovering herself in this year, 1970.  Life was sprawling ahead and as she and four of her best friends from school pointed out people from their past, it was so nice seeing them for the first time in close to four years, since High School graduation.  The Queen of their  Prom had gained an extraordinary amount of weight, the girl with the best figure still had the best figure.  The Jocks were still huddling and shooting shy ganders at the fine girls, which made her realize why she didn’t like Jocks in the first place.  Most times they were insecure Huskies that weren’t all that cute.  The girls that wanted them were the Cheerleaders and so-called pretty girls who wanted to make names for themselves.  

Live music was played and in another area Buddy Miles was singing the soulful song….“Down by the river…..I shot my baby…..”  The man on the bongos had skin  as smooth and dark as rich chocolate, poreless, and if she touched it she knew it would feel like satin.  As his palms connected to the Bongo and the rhythm, in a trance-like way he raised his head and caressed her with his eyes.   She was so happy to be with her girls as they explored life, met and greeted folks from everywhere and just enjoyed being young, on the move and appealing.  When girls were appealing there were more advantages in choosing the guys they wanted. It wasn’t that she had  just discovered herself, but was growing into herself and having so much fun embracing her Culture was what made everything worthwhile.  That Saturday, there were different  Ethnic groups there.  It seemed that all the movements that had existed to create a calming and positive effect on Society had come full circle to create this type of event.  So she basked in the good feelings that abounded, was kissed by a tall dark stranger she’d never met and lost herself in the sound of music and the soothing effect of her drink.