Smell My Finger!

The first time I went to Varner’s Drive-In without my parents was probably when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I walked.

I met friends, my same age, which also walked there. We wanted to hang out at the most popular place for our older peers at Marietta High School to hangout.

So, we hung out sipping Cokes and watching the older teenage boys come and go.
I guess it was just un-lady-like for girls to come inside and hang-out but it was socially acceptable for them to sit in their cars and hang out or cruse through the parking lot. Of course, it was taboo for them to sit on or lean against cars like the boys were doing also.
One kid I knew all my life came in. He was a couple years older than me. He came directly up to me and held out his finger and said, “Smell my finger”. I guess I felt complemented by somebody older paying direct attention to me… but wanting me to smell his finger? After I got a whiff of his finger I understood why. He was bragging he had a date and was going places. He also shared his finger with several other boys sitting around. His bragging right was on his finger.

After he went back to his car us pre-16 boys had to walk outside too, to get a look at his girlfriend. We were nosy. It was a girl we all knew at school.
At the 1960 Class 50th Reunion last week I saw the same girl and talked briefly with her. We caught each other up on our lives. She looks like a typical grandmother and she might even be a great grandmother. As we talked I wondered if she knew about a dozen kids got a carnal whiff of her well over 50 years ago. Her boy friend from such a long time ago died a few a few years back.

You have Varners’ memories too don’t you? Come to the Varners’ Reunion !

Only 4 days away!