Summer in Chicago

I can feel the sweat beads running down my face before I even wake up good. The sheet on my bed is sticking to my skin like plastic.

“Why can’t we have central are?” I say aloud.

I look over to my sister’s side of the room, but she isn’t there. She always gets up before I do. The box fan sitting in the window is only blowing the hot air from outside in the house. The sound of it rattling, had become so normal it was like listening to the sound of rain hitting window. I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom.

“I gotta pee!” I yell as I knock on the bathroom door.

The bathroom door opens, and momma comes out. “We’re eating cereal this morning it’s too hot to cook.” she says. “The block party is today, make sure you find something cool to wear,”

“Okay,” I respond and close the bathroom door.

The summer block party was a big deal. All the families on the block bring out their grills and someone brings out a loudspeaker to play music all day and night. It’s like being on Bourbon Street in Memphis. Us kids can ride our bikes in the street and not worry about car flying down the street. I always loved when someone cracked open the fire hydrant at the end of the street. Even though we live in a city with real beaches, we never visited. So, the fire hydrant was the next best thing.

I eat my cereal as fast as I can, so I can take my bath and go outside. I loved being outside all day with my sisters and the other kids from the block. I pull my pink biking shorts out the bottom drawer of our dresser drawer and find a white tank top. I would be dirty by the end of the day, but that was okay with me. Momma wouldn’t be so happy.

I grabbed a freeze pop out the freezer, our jump rope and hoop from the hall closet and ran outside. I sat on the porch waiting for my sister to come out and ate my freeze pop. Momma always bought the big, long ones during the summer. She said she didn’t want us running in and out the house. I watched our neighbors all setting up their tables and chairs. Some of them had been out at the crack of dawn firing up their BBQ grills. My uncle was standing over our grill on the front side w waited for my sister while sitting on our front porch. He had a towel around his neck, so he could wipe the sweat from his forehead. I’m sure some fell on our meat. Yuck!

The candy lady had her table out, with all the penny candy lined up on the table. I couldn’t wait for my sister any longer, so I walked down the block to the candy lady's house.

“Hi Ms. Endura,” I said grinny from ear to ear. Last year she had candy bags ready for all the kids on the block. The adults still had to pay if they wanted to get something.

“I made a special bag just for you,” she said as she reached under her table. She handed me a brown paper bag with strawberry chews, tootsie footies, pixy sticks, a candy necklace and a candy ring. There was a separate sandwich bag with my all-time favorite, strawberry cookies.

I couldn't stop smiling. “Thank you, Ms. Endura,” I said and gave her a hug around her waist. I skipped back up the street and sat on our porch. All this sugar was going to for sure have me bouncing off the walls.

“Ms. Endura gave you all that candy?” my uncle asked.

I nodded while smacking on a strawberry chew.

“You didn’t get my bag,” my sister asked when she came outside.

“She said you had to come get it yourself,” I lied.

She took off down the stairs and ran up the block to get her goodie bag.

Mr. Edwards brought his whole stereo on his porch and put the speaker on the sidewalk. The cords ran down his stairs and to the street connecting to the speaker. He turned the music on, and the sound of Whitney Houston filled the air. The neighbors were coming out and so were our friends. We didn’t have our own bikes, but my best friend Sheena took turns with me.

As soon as I saw her struggling to bring her bike outside, I ran to help her. She also had a skip it and I loved to play with that. I had the highest count on the block.

The day was long, and it was hot as soon as the fire hydrant was cracked open, I left my flip flops on the porch and ran to get wet. Some kids put on their swimsuits, but I like to get wet in my clothes. It was so hot outside I would be totally dry before the night was over. My sister had braided my hair and put white beads on the end, so I didn’t have to worry about my hair. The adults sat on the porch while us kids ran up and down the block. We had a hula hoop contest, but I didn’t win. We played a game of hopscotch and jumped rope a little We forgot all about the heat.

The fire department came and turned off the fire hydrant after a few hours. It was getting dark outside; the streetlights came on. The green flickers of light from the lighting bugs started to pop up here and there. It was almost like a light show. It was time to sit down and eat something, even though I didn’t want to stop playing. I loved barbequed chicken wings, so that was the first thing I grab from the aluminum pan. I knew momma was watching so I put a spoon full of green beans on the side. It took my no time to finish my plate and get back to the business of having fun.

I took my last turn on Sheena’s bike before she had to take it in the house. I rode to the end of the block in the middle of the street and turned around. I peddled as hard as I could and closed my eyes for a minute letting the night air hit my face. I let go of the hand bars and took my feet off the peddles.

I didn’t have a watch, so I had no idea what time it was. By now, most of the adults were drunk or high. I was exhausted. I helped Sheena take her bike in the house and sat on our porch with my family.

“You look like you're ready for bed,” Momma said, when I sat down.

I didn’t want to admit it was I was worn out. I nodded in response.

“You gone upstairs and take your bath. You stinky!” she said and laughed. She waved her hand in front of her nose. “Your sister is already up there.”

I walked past my two aunts; my uncle and two cousins as I went into the building. When I entered our apartment, I could hear water running. My sister had just gotten out of the bathtub and was running me some water.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You welcome,” she responded.

I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until I sat in the cool water. I put my pajamas on and carried my dirty clothes to the hamper in the closet of our bedroom. I claimed in my bed and smiled. I loved block parties!