by Marijane Suttor

Created on: April 03, 2008

The pure innocence
of four 18-year-old
country girls,newly graduated,
ready for adventure
set off for the dusk to dawn feature
at the drive-in Plaza Theatre.

We were livin' on the wild side.
We knew who went to drive-ins:
boys in cars with liquor.
With the audacity of youth
and the thrill of adventure,
we sneaked in a Godfather's pizza
four slurpees and Snicker's bars
Just what guys in cars with liquor

were looking for in hot girls
hoping for adventure,
wouldn't you say?

Arriving before dark
we pulled into a good spot,
hooked the speaker to the window
to hear the scratchy
audio box that half the time
never stayed hooked to the window.
The picture show loomed over us
in all its magnificence.

This was the life!
No parents, all night long
and drunken guys
who thought we were hot,
whistling at us every time
they went for concessions
eventually just standing
and peeing right by their cars.
We actually watched guys pee
and caught glimpses of manhood
in the moonlight
as eruptions of giggles
spewed out in giant gasps
as the boys would look our way
as if they wondered
what we were laughing at.

This was livin!
Our rite-of-passage!
OW-oooo!
We howled our primitive
yowl of girlhood and womanhood
clashing in this one moment
and knew this was just
the first door of independence
that would open for us
and allowed us drive right in.

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