Sunday, February 7, 2010

Time for Mischief.....

I've talked about my old neighborhood and the close relationship I had with a bunch of my neighbors there before. The other night I was thinking about them and this memory popped into my head. I hadn't thought about this in years!

In November of every year, most men get out their weapons and head for the woods so they can rough it for a few days hunting deer. They don't wash or shave (they want to blend with nature so it won't scare the deer.....at least that's the excuse they tell us) and probably don't change their underwear or socks either during this time. I'm not even sure they brush their teeth and I don't even want to know. Anyway, the wives of these 'great white hunters' also look forward to them leaving. I don't know what a lot of the wives did, but in our little circle of friends in our neighborhood where every man was gone....we women had a ball. We ordered dinner out and in some cases even had it delivered. We had get-togethers at each other's homes and we played cards, drank, cussed and generally had fun. We slept in, watched what we wanted on TV and took up the entire bed, loving every inch of it. For the most part it was all good innocent fun.

Now this story takes place back in the early 60's. Most of us women were pretty darned innocent. I think I was just 21 years old, if that. You have to remember that society, in general, was pretty prudish then. The movies on TV as well as the box office did not have a lot of swearing and never EVER the F-word. Now....all of us had heard about these so-called secret movies called smokers. None of us had ever seen any or even knew anyone who had seen any. It was a guy thing....it was p.o.r.n. Curious? You bet. We all were. Well, for THIS hunting season one of the girls had a real treat for us....or should I say "reel". She said her brother, who lived with them but who had also gone hunting, had a couple reels of smokers.....and she found them in his room. We all put our heads together....one of the other girls had a movie projector. There were no VHS tapes back then....or at least not in my circle of acquaintances. We decided we would meet at my house because I was the only one who didn't have kids at the time.

The night of the 'showing', they all brought snacks, their choice of alcoholic beverage, wore comfy clothes, and the ones who needed it had babysitters at their houses....we were ready. The one with the projector showed up and set it up and it wasn't until then that she said what are we going to show these on. I didn't have any wall space that was suitable.....and we wanted a good view! Someone suggested a sheet thrown over the traverse curtain rod....so we did that after first closing the drapes. We turned off the lights and settled in for the show.

The movies were old 8 mm, black and white. They were so faded and such poor quality you could hardly see anything......probably they were copies of copies of copies....well, you get the idea. Anyway the plot line lacked imagination big time. Woman's husband out of town, she orders pizza....pizza guy delivers, she answers door with next to nothing on and before you know it they are in the bedroom and she's moaning and groaning like you would never believe. The more we drank, the funnier it became. Each movie was rather short, maybe 25 or 30 minutes, hard to remember now. I can't remember how many movies she had....maybe 2, maybe 3, but we watched them several times each, laughing harder each time.

I don't know who now.....I guess the shock from the realization sort of emptied my memory banks a little....but one of the girls went outside for some reason....maybe for some fresh air.... and she came back in, wide-eyed and terrified. At her news, we all ran outside and looked. Seems as though the movie was showing right through my picture window (even though the drapes were closed) and from outside it was like being at a drive-in theater. We all were half drunk, half hysterical, scared and laughing at the same time. We closed up and dispersed faster than an illegal gambling joint.

I lived in absolute terror that the police were going to break down my door and search my home looking for contraband.....I envisioned my picture on the front page of the paper......the embarrassment I would bring my parents. We girls all talked about it in hushed whispers. Then after weeks passed and nothing more came of it, we breathed sighs of relief. We all vowed that we'd never ever do anything like that again.....and we didn't. But now as I think of it, I have to laugh out loud.....and I'm also wondering if old Mrs. Fugate on the next street over had been looking out her window that night. LOLOLOLOLOL

21 comments:

Smocha said...

That is absolutely hysterical! LOL

Sounds like something me and my friends would do. Girls just wanna have fun :)

Jamie said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE this story! I think it would have been so much fun to be an adult in the 60's. I believe the world was a better place then. Thank you for sharing this.

Hugs. :)

My Aimless Infatuation said...

I just spit pepsi all over my computer.......but it was so worth it.......great post!

SOUL said...

this has to be your best post evah !
i can't imagine 'you', bein young and wild and fancy free.
i laughed out loud right along with everybody else-
great story-- and i'm happy you have these kinds of memories--
ahhh the good ole days-

hugs charlotte-
b

Holly said...

you.....you.....you....WILD WOMAN!

I laughed so hard at the picture in my mind that Dear Daughter had to know what was so funny! GREAT post!

Rae said...

Hilarious!!! I can just picture all of you out of control with laughter. I bet you were the talk of the neighborhood for quite some time.

gayle said...

My husband and I are dying laughing at this story!!!

boneman said...

reckon that would be one way to discourage folk who peep across from their house to your windows.
HA!
It sounds like quite the party!

Linda Medrano said...

This is hilarious! I saw my first one about the same time. All i can really remember about it is that the guy had on black socks and he never took them off! LOL! I love this Val!

JY69 said...

Sounds like a riot!!! The things you did and thought were BAD!!! Those were probably the best of times....

Jenny said...

and just how were we going to get sex education if we didn't find a 8mm? Exactly. ;-) Those were different times.

Leann said...

OMG that is so funny!! My first thought was about the film going thru and showing on the outside and what the neighbors would say. I'll bet they enjoyed the show too and just didn't wanna admit it :-)

Ahh youth!

Thanks for sharing that story! I know lots of wives who party the whole time the hubbies are out 'hunting'.

Coffeypot said...

But did you like the movies? I know a bunch of ladies would laugh and stuff, but did you like it?

happyone said...

That is so funny!!! I laughed out loud. Great story! :-)

Mama Llama said...

Oh my! What a fun memory, Val!! Thanks for sharing!

Be well.

glnroz said...

that was hysterical.. Lands a goodness how times have changed. A good grin for a Monday morning..

Margaret Hall said...

Ahhhhhh, Val~!! I can just see it now! Back then, those films would have been absolutely the "last straw" in owning/watching one~!!..
I laughed at you all sitting comfy and then realizing that you were treating the neighborhood...GREAT POST!!!,...Hope the neighbors learned not to snoop!

Christine said...

OMG. That is one of the best stories I have ever read. I can just imagine the horror you gals felt when you realized your dirty little secret was being shown throughout the neighborhood.

Cheryl said...

What a classic story. I felt like I was there with you, one of the girls. Times sure have changed!

I shoveled the deck on your advice. I'm SO sore, it hurts to type.

Savannah said...

Oh Val...thanks so much for the giggle. What innocent times they were. Nowadays just about anything goes and it takes all the fun out of life if you don't feel like you're being at least a little bit naughty.

Anonymous said...

oh, geez! I'd never have thought to check the outside to see if the film was showing through! I'm sure if anyone had seen it, you'd have heard about it!

Thanks for the laugh, that's a great memory!