<\/p>\n
At Lecroy’s Service Station my father<\/p>\n
buys me a Coke and a Zero bar while<\/p>\n
Furley, the mechanic’s helper, changes<\/p>\n
the oil in our ’57 wagon.<\/p>\n
I have no money until Father gives<\/p>\n
some to me, a dime for the soda and<\/p>\n
a nickel for the chocolate. They’re good<\/p>\n
\u2014I don’t get many sweets at home, but every<\/p>\n
6000 miles or so I get a treat<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
here at the gas station. Full service. That<\/p>\n
means if you buy gas they wash the windshield,<\/p>\n
pop the hood, check the oil and battery<\/p>\n
and the radiator. They’ll check the tires,<\/p>\n
too, if you ask them. I sit on a stool<\/p>\n
and listen to my father and the men<\/p>\n
he calls Boys<\/em> talk politics\u2014JFK<\/p>\n and Cuba and those good cigars you can’t<\/p>\n buy anymore, and the Bomb\u2014the Big<\/em> One\u2014<\/p>\n and the Commies in Russia and China<\/p>\n and Khrushchev and Chairman Mao. They’re<\/p>\n smoking Lucky Strikes\u2014LSMFT<\/em><\/p>\n it says on the package\u2014Lucky Strikes Mean<\/em><\/p>\n Fine Tobacco<\/em>\u2014and then tease me about<\/p>\n whether I have a girlfriend yet. No, sir,<\/p>\n I say. I’m only six years old. Plenty<\/em><\/p>\n of time for gals<\/em>, says Mr. Lecroy. No<\/em><\/p>\n rush<\/em>. In his office there’s a calendar<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2014I’ve seen it\u2014of a pretty girl without<\/p>\n a shirt. It’s August. I’ll bet there’s a girl<\/p>\n for every month. But out here we’re all men,<\/p>\n squatting on stools or leaning against walls,<\/p>\n talking about the world, though I listen,<\/p>\n mostly. I have to respect my elders.<\/p>\n I speak only when I’m spoken to. That’s<\/p>\n how they bring me up at home. No back-talk.<\/p>\n No interrupting. No foolishness. That’s<\/p>\n what men do. She has black hair, that lady<\/p>\n in Mr. Lecroy’s office, on the wall.<\/p>\n She’s on the beach in just her underwear.<\/p>\n Her lips are red and her eyebrows are thin.<\/p>\n She looks friendly. She doesn’t miss her shirt,<\/p>\n either. The sea behind her is as blue<\/p>\n as blue eyes, and the blue sky is lighter<\/p>\n blue, like the blue of blue skin when someone’s <\/em><\/p>\n choking or trying to breathe, the air knocked<\/p>\n out of them when they least expect it and<\/p>\n they’re surprised that breathing is so hard<\/p>\n until the get their breath again. Her name<\/p>\n <\/p>\n is Miss Eve and she’s brought to you by those<\/em><\/p>\n fine folks at Service Station Supply, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n I wonder if her mother knows she’s there,<\/p>\n topless on the beach and everyone who<\/p>\n goes into the office can’t miss her if<\/p>\n they look on the wall, next to the clock. I<\/p>\n wonder if she’s lonely. I sure am, not<\/p>\n really a man and going to be a boy<\/p>\n for many years. And she’s just a girl but<\/p>\n a real healthy one. And there’s a Bible<\/em><\/p>\n Stories for Children<\/em> on the table in<\/p>\n this lobby. Also some comic books but<\/p>\n I read them last time I was here. I think<\/p>\n <\/p>\n about God a lot. I’m still pretty young<\/p>\n but I’ve got a soul, same as anyone,<\/p>\n and I can go to Heaven, if I’m good,<\/p>\n and Jesus died for me and Miss Eve, too,<\/p>\n and my father, and all the other men.<\/p>\n That’s why it’s okay for a naked girl<\/p>\n to be on the wall, because Jesus saves and God forgives and Father wears a tie.<\/p>\n Grown-ups are old enough to do bad things<\/p>\n \u2014that’s fair enough. But just let Father catch<\/p>\n me eyeing Miss Eve and I’ll be punished<\/p>\n \u2014he didn’t say so but I won’t gamble.<\/p>\n For someone naked she’s sure got gumption.<\/p>\n I like her plenty but don’t know how much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Gale Acuff At Lecroy’s Service Station my father buys me a Coke and a Zero bar while Furley, the mechanic’s helper, changes the oil in our ’57 wagon. I have no money until Father gives some to me, a dime for the soda and a nickel for the chocolate. They’re good \u2014I don’t Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-94","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94\/revisions\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/15-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n