Mykel decided that he and Sherry should take a little fun trip to the Lake of the Ozarks before they had to start their fall classes at S-M-S. They took a cruise on the Captain Larry-Don excursion boat, rode on a roller coaster and a swing ride at an amusement park.
“Now that song, your radio station is playing, is going to be stuck in my head,” Sherry laughed.
“What song is that?” Mykel asked.
Sherry burst into song, “I lost my heart at the fairground to the boy who ran the swing machine. Who sings that Lesley Gore or Nancy Sinatra?”
“Neither. It’s a girl from England named Glenda Collins. The girl who upset Ozarkers this winter by saying ‘Hell” in a song.”
“I kind of like it. It’s a fun song for summer.”
“This is the first summer I remember hearing so many songs about summer,” Mykel said. “I really like the one by Lovin Spoonful. I also like that Billy Stewart song.”
“Oh, ‘Summertime’! I love that song!” Sherry gushed, then said in a hushed voice. “I’ve got a funny story about that song. It’s from the opera called Porgy and Bess, which is about slaves. I was in a talent show when I was in ninth grade. There was another girl, in the talent show, who sang that song.” Sherry lowered her voice to a near whisper. “This girl was one of those people who are horrible singers, but she tries to compensate by singing loud and holding her notes real long. She also had Shinola smeared all over her face and was rocking one of those little pickaninny rag dolls. She threw a big fit when she didn’t win.”
“What did you do in the talent show?” Mykel asked.
“I tap danced to the song ‘Happy Feet.’ I came in third. She said she didn’t think I was any good.”
“You should have said to her ‘At least I don’t have shoe polish smeared on her face.’ She is probably still trying to wash that off.” Sherry laughed.
“You want to play Skee Ball or Whack-a-Mole?’ Mykel asked.
“I’m thirsty. Let’s get something to drink,” Sherry said. “That booth over there has lemonade.”
Mykel and Sherry went to get some lemonade from the booth with a rather long line. They were standing in line when Mykel saw something that made him nervous. Bethany Duckworth, who Mykel had a crush on from seventh grade until he started attending S-M-S and figured out there were prettier girls in the world, like Sherry Ridenhour.
(Bethany & Timothy’s photo created with an A-I program)
He guessed that the tall guy with her was fiancé, Timothy Brinkwell. They were in line behind him and Sherry. Mykel felt safe about two things, Bethany would be too stuck up to speak to him, and Sherry was so sweet and angelic that nothing bad would happen if she did speak to Mykel.
As they stood in line, Mykel listened to music on the overhead speakers. It was a mix of current hits and some “golden oldies,” as Lovable Lance called them. However, Mykel noticed there was no disk jockey, commercials, or I-Ds.
“I wonder what the temperature is?” Sherry asked Mykel.
“I don’t know. It seems to be getting hotter,” Mykel answered. “I was just thinking the radio station playing hasn’t given any weather.”
“It may be a Seeburg machine,” Sherry said. “They have one at the clinic where my dad works, but they only play classical music or elevator music, but that of course is what they want for the clinic. You can probably get them to play other music.”
“Yeah, doctor’s offices always play boring music,” Mykel snarked. “Perfect background music for reading old Missouri Conservationist magazines or those depressing Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories.”
“I didn’t realize those were that depressing until I started reading it to those little kids that night at the hospital,” Sherry said. “Then they came out and told them their grandpa died, I felt really bad.”
“I’m going to get a corn dog. Do you want one?”
“Yeah, I’m kind of hungry,” Sherry answered. “Do you want me to pay for mine?”
“No,” Mykel said. “Ten cent corn dogs won’t break me.”
“Some boys wouldn’t buy me a corn dog,” Sherry said. “They made me pay for my own.”
“You mean this Knob Noster big shot,” Mykel said sarcastically. “Apparently, he gave Alice his wiener.”
Sherry swatted Mykel on the arm with a look of half shock and half laughter on her face. “Mykel! People can hear you and there are children everywhere!” She kept laughing. “That was funny though.”
The loudspeaker at the park began playing “Over, Under, Sideways Down” by the Yardbirds. Mykel began shouting “Hey” along with the song, then Sherry joined in. She then spied something across the midway.
“Mykel, look what that sign says!” Sherry laughed, as she pointed to the sign, which read: Bagnel Dam Candy Kitchen. Come in & try some of our Dam Candy! Dam Licorice – Black & Red. Dam Fudge – Chocolate & Peanut Butter. Dam Horehound. Dam Walnettos.”
“Do you want some of that Dam candy?” Mykel asked jokingly.
“Maybe later,” Sherry said. “I like it says Dam Horehound.”
“You found a new nickname for Alice,” Mykel causing Sherry to laugh hysterically.
The song “Guantantamera” began playing on the overhead speaker. Mykel began singing along but singing “One-ton tomato. I ate a one-ton tomato.” Sherry was laughing to the point where she was red faced and crying.
“You’re going to make me wet my pants,” she said.
There was an older couple standing behind Mykel and Sherry in the line for refreshments. The lady tapped them on the shoulder. The lady and her husband were chuckling.
“Excuse me, but I wanted to tell you how much my husband and I are enjoying your antics. You are a cute couple. Are you entertainers at the Tan Tara Resort or the Ozark Opry?” the lady inquired.
“No, but we are entertainers,” Mykel said. Sherry got that grin on her face. She knew Mykel was about to say something goofy. “My name is Bill Cosby and this is Leslie Uggams.” Sherry rolled her eyes, put her hand over her face, and began to giggle. The lady and her husband laughed out loud.
“Oh my, you are so funny!”
“Actually, Mame, Mykel is working at a radio station in Springville, while he attends college at Show-Me State.”
“Oh, would it be K-B-U-B? We can hear that in Climax Springs.”
“No, I work at the Top 40 station, K-I-double-L.”
“Well, I’m sure the kids will enjoy you as much as me and the wife have,” the man said.
Mykel and Sherry ordered their lemonade and corn dogs. While a girl drew their lemonade and cooked their corn dogs, Sherry decided to ask the boy taking the money about the music, just as “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” began blasting over the speakers.
“My boyfriend is in radio and would like to know if we are listening to a really cool radio station or is this a Seeburg machine?”
“It’s not radio. The radio station here in town doesn’t play rock and roll until after 4 PM, so this is…I think that other thing you mentioned…one of those little machines that plays a big record. You can’t play them on a regular record player. I understand they get the records from another company because the others are not really fun stuff. I think this record is called Go-Go Hits or something.”
“Thank you for your information,” Sherry said. They took their snacks and started walking toward some picnic tables across the midway, when the thing Mykel was dreading happened.
“Mykel! Mykel Daring is that you?” a high-pitched squealing girl’s voice called from the line of people waiting in the hot sun for refreshments. Bethany Duckworth had spotted Mykel.
“I think that girl over there is calling your name,” Sherry said.
“That is the girl I had a crush on in junior high school,” Mykel mumbled.
“You should at least speak to her, since she saw you,” Sherry said. The one thing that bothered Mykel about Sherry was her niceness. He would like to see Sherry be mean to someone just once. Mykel also knew if his mother was here, she too would make him speak to Bethany.
“Hello Bethany. How are you?” Mykel grumbled reluctantly talking to Bethany. She was decked out in a flower print sundress with her brown hair in a beehive updo.
“Oh wonderful! I haven’t seen you since graduation. What are you doing now?”
“I will start my sophomore year at Show-Me State College in a few weeks. I’m studying broadcasting and media. What are you doing these days?” Mykel asked even though he could have cared less. Sherry just stood next to Mykel smiling and sipping her lemonade.
“Oh, I’m working in my father’s insurance office and planning my wedding,” Bethany gushed. “Timothy and I are getting married next year! Do you know Timothy Brinkwell?”
“I’ve heard of him, but never met him,” Mykel answered. “His family has the funeral home and ambulance service.”
Bethany tugged on the tall guy’s arm. He was kind of staring off into space or people watching. “Timothy, this is Mykel Daring. We graduated from Lemming High School in the Class of 65. Mykel was madly in love with me.” She then let out a mocking laugh.
Mykel was hurt until he noticed Sherry’s face. She had stopped grinning and was looking rather perturbed. She had also switched from neatly nibbling her corn dog to taking a big bite, which left a smudge of mustard on the corner of her mouth. That was the way Sherry ate when she was upset about something. Mykel thought, “I hope it’s not Lady Time again.”
“Daring? Is your grandfather Major Taylor?” Timothy asked his odd goose-like voice. Mykel answered yes. “I recently paid him and your grandmother a visit. My father wants me to try to interest some of the older residents of Lemming in prearrangement plans. I told him I had been by previously, but they weren’t at home.” Timothy began to chuckle. “I found it amusing, he said ‘We have been trying not to be here when you come by.’ I laughed, but you grandmother was kind of embarrassed by what he said.” Timothy then became serious, “Mykel, you and your mother need to talk to your grandparents about investing in a prearranged funeral plan. We don’t know when we will draw our last breath, so it is best to have a casket and headstone already paid for.”
Mykel said ‘okay’ and Sherry just nodded her head acknowledging fate.
Things went from gloomy to tense quickly when Bethany asked, “Mykel, who is this person standing next to you? Is she with you?”
“I’m Sherry Ridenhour. I attend Show-Me State College with Mykel.”
“I don’t believe you are from Lemming,” Bethany said in a tone that suggested that Sherry might have been a Russian spy or something.
“I’m from Knob Noster, Missouri.”
“You mean you are from a town filled with servicemen and you are hanging around with Mykel Daring?” Bethany sneered. “You have a taste for nick knacks.”
Mykel was thinking he and Sherry should make their way to the picnic table like they started to do, but Bethany had to pile more wood on the fire under Sherry’s already boiling kettle. She stuck her hand right in his face.
“Look at the engagement ring Timothy got me!” Sherry was not amused by this, but then Bethany looked at her and said, “By the way, Honey, you have some mustard on the corner of your mouth.” Sherry looked like she was about to blow up at that point. She also began shaking the ice in her lemonade cup and stabbing the ice with the straw, which Mykel had learned was a signal that she was irritated by something, in this case it was Bethany.
Mykel decided to be nice, since Sherry had admonished him for his bad attitude. “That’s nice, Bethany. I’m very happy for you.”
“Can I see your ring?” Sherry asked. Bethany obliged with a smile. Sherry jerked her hand over in front of her face to examine the ring. She then turned to Mykel and said, “Mykel, this ring isn’t as nice the one, you showed me at Service Merchandise, that you are buying me.” Sherry smiled at Mykel, but it wasn’t her usual smile. It was slightly demonic. She gave him a sharp poke in the back, out of Bethany’s sight.
“Well, we looked at several, Sherry,” Mykel was apprehensive about where Sherry was going with this charade. “Which ring are you talking about?”
“The one with the diamond as big as a penny,” Sherry answered Mykel, trying not to laugh. She then turned to Bethany and told her, “Mykel can afford it now that he is quickly becoming the most popular radio D-J in Springville.”
“Oh, are you on K-B-U-B by any chance?” Timothy asked.
“No, I’m on K-I-L-L,” Mykel snapped, because he was tired of people asking him if he was on ‘the hillbilly station’ as he called it.
“Timothy, why is Mykel’s girlfriend getting a nicer ring than me?” Bethany whined, before she began ripping into him about how he could probably buy her a ring with a large diamond.
Timothy tried to explain that he was still going to get her a wedding ring and what she had was only an engagement ring. He also told her something about his father having to buy a new ambulance for the funeral home’s ambulance service. Bethany was throwing a major fit and people were watching it unfold in the line for cold drinks and corn dogs.
Mykel was sort of feeling sorry for Timothy as he was twisting in the wind. Sherry was enjoying this and slipping her lemonade through her grinning lips. To make it complete, on the overhead speaker, Roger Miller began singing “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.” Sherry decided that since she lit the fuse on the dynamite, she needed to pour some gas on it for more destruction.
“By the way, Bethany, are you the girl Mykel bought a box of chocolates for on Valentine’s Day and then gave them to the football team, and they threw them at him?”
A look of horror crossed Bethany’s face as she realized Sherry had just pointed out one of her past sins. “That was in junior high. How did you know about that?”
“That wasn’t a very nice. As matter of fact, that was downright rude,” Sherry berated Bethany much like a teacher who caught a kid chewing gum. “Mykel bought me some candy for Valentine’s Day, and I shared them with him. It was so sweet and romantic. My previous boyfriend wouldn’t buy me chocolates or flowers.”
Mykel thought it might be a good time to end this, even though he was enjoying Sherry raking Bethany over the coals. “Well, it was nice to see you again, Bethany!” He was trying not to laugh.
“Nice to see you, Mykel.” Bethany said coldly and turned her head away with a sharp jerk.
Timothy, on the other hand, was more affable. “It was nice meeting you, Mykel, and tell you grandparents and mother that I said hello.” He shook Mykel’s hand and then shook Sherry’s hand, “It was nice to meet you too, young lady.”
“Come on, Timothy! We will need to get back into line,” Bethany chided her boyfriend. Mykel and Sherry went over to the picnic table and sat down.
“That was interesting,” Mykel was not sure what to say, as the overhead speaker began playing “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys.
“The nerve of that girl! She just spoke to you just so she could rub it in your face that she was engaged. And that guy! He is creepy! He reminded me of Lurch from The Addams Family! Did you notice when we shook his hand? They were moist and icky!” Sherry paused. “You don’t think he had just finished embalming someone before he came here, do you? What does he have that you don’t?”
“Money and a big name in Lemming,” Mykel answered. “I think I know why you reacted the way you did. She reminds you of someone. Doesn’t she?”
Sherry has a contemplative look on her face. “Yes, she is another Alice Schnatsky.”
“Except both of Bethany’s eyes move,” Mykel said causing Sherry to also spew out some of her lemonade.
“Mykel, I’ve been kind of hard on you about your ideas about people and how they have treated you in the past, but just now, I saw why you feel that way. I also realize why you like me.”
“You know it was fun seeing that mean and mischievous side of you.”
WIP: DYNAMIC DUO OF THE OZARKS 