Their clock struck twelve just as the whistle blew from their black-and-white television.
A man who resembled a top hatted potato dressed in a circus ringmaster uniform announced to Chicagoland,
‘Bozo’s Circus is on the air!’
Bob Trendler’s Big Top Band played the rousing circus march from Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth as Ringmaster Ned enthusiastically introduced the cast and circus acts of the weekdaily Bozo’s Circus.
Betty, Connie and Karen were three nurses at Victory Memorial Hospital who lived together; today they were on the 3 to 11pm shift. They spent the morning doing household chores, ‘make and mend’ as Connie’s father called it when he was in the Navy.
Their TV was the rest of the world. Between their chores and chats, they’d laugh at cartoons and I Love Lucy, then play along with the quiz shows until they had lunch with Bozo. Afterwards were soap operas and Loretta Young Theatre or a vintage movie. All were interspersed with 30 or 60 second commercials where problems were solved, dreams came true, and love triumphed, allowing the path of happiness to finally be visible and viable…if one purchased the product…
Today Connie had other plans.
‘Give my regards to…Bo-zo’, sang Karen to Give My Regards to Broadway.
‘Prince Charming, if you can find him, never makes you laugh.’
Connie’s retorts were never harsh, and her smile was genuine rather than the sarcastic tigress Our Miss Brooks.
‘And Bozo never breaks your heart’, added Betty.
Karen never meant her cracks, in the same way Angie, the sarcastic waitress at Rico’s, bark was worse than her bite. Though both always looked at the darker side of life, neither were seriously morose or vicious. Karen loudly lamented they were watching a children’s show, yet she laughed the hardest at the clowns’ antics and thrilled the most at the circus acts.
Connie was genuinely thrilled having an actual circus in their very own home. Betty and Karen regarded her as their Pollyanna who saw good in everything.
‘You’ve only got two hours’, intoned the Voice of Doom.
‘Sometimes two hours can be a lifetime, Karen.’
‘Roller-skating dating!’
Betty and Connie were pleased Karen still had her sense of humour.
Karen had no boyfriends to spend time with, her scheme of staying for a few days at the expensive Deerpath Inn in Lake Forest to meet a rich single Prince Charming had failed worse than her spending free time in Chicago’s Loop, an experience she admitted akin to lifting a board and seeing hordes of creepy-crawlies.
Connie walked to the tree lined North Avenue on the pleasant September afternoon; the summer heat had gone, and the children were back to school. She awaited her beau Joey who only worked half-days. Betty’s boyfriend Stash worked until four.
The tangerine-coloured streetcar stopped; there was her besuited Joey holding a fresh bouquet of flowers from his mother’s garden. She enjoyed the fragrance and appearance of the flowers as much as she revelled in hugging and kissing the loveable Joey.
The intersection near her hospital and Victory Park had the streetcars go in two directions, the one Joey caught went north to the terminus at Greenwood Avenue instead of going down Glen Flora Avenue where they would have lunch. This was preferable, as they could stretch their legs and tell each other what they had done during the morning,
Beneath the blue sky and shady trees and past the tidy lawns they sauntered down Douglas Avenue on a glorious day that whispered happiness.
They enjoyed the returning schoolchildren making their way to their afternoon session. Connie’s neighbourhood was a lovely one; she often wondered about the women in the pleasant homes whose husbands were at work and their children at school. They did the same things she and her friends did, but alone.
‘Did you go to Glen Flora School?’, she asked as they approached the large schoolyard.
‘No, but Ray did. I went to Central School downtown, and Stash went to North School between the two of us.’
‘Golly! My entire township only had one school!’
Late running schoolchildren dashed past making them laugh. The rest of the children in the green schoolyard revelled in being together and playing games.
‘Let’s wait a moment, Joey.’
They held each other’s hands and waited for the 12:45 bell to ring announcing that the afternoon session had begun.
The children silently trundled in; what looked like a fun-filled carnival now resembled a silent abandon hope ye who enter here prison.
‘I saw a movie about Devil’s Island, and the convicts looked happier than they did! Ray and Stash always make me promise I’ll enjoy my afternoons.’
Connie put her arm around him and gave a sideways hug,
‘We’ll enjoy our afternoon to the maximum utmost!’
The Glen Flora Avenue crossing guard was about to return to his home. He laughed as he held up his red ‘Lollipop’ STOP sign to let them cross.
‘Looks like you two are playing hooky!’
‘That’s what makes everything twice as much fun!’, Connie sparkled. ‘Why are the school and street named Glen Flora?’
‘Glen Flora was once a mineral spa the other side of Sheridan Road back in the late 19th Century. People once came there to take the waters.’
‘This neighbourhood is as big as my entire town in Southern Illinois. When I go into a store or walk on the street, I don’t know anyone! Everyone knew each other back home. We didn’t need a newspaper!’
Entering Johnny’s Café, the owner gleefully showed them to their table with its RESERVED sign.
They both ordered the Blue Plate Special; the waitress admired Connie’s flowers and returned them with a lent vase.
Anita Bryant sang My Little Corner of the World.
Connie gushed,
‘That’s my favourite song!’
‘Mine too.’
They conversed until their lunch came, roast beef and mashed potatoes with gravy, peas and corn, a bread roll, and coffee. Dessert was strawberry Jell-O.
Both entered the women’s clothing boutique next door where she tried things on, but didn’t buy anything. She admired Joey’s patience.
‘That’s how my Mom has fun too!’
They went into White’s dimestore where both enjoyed looking at the toys. Connie was fascinated by a model of a sailing ship.
‘My father’s hobby was putting sailing ships in bottles. I guess he missed the Navy; maybe he was born in the wrong century. He made one for me and I used to look at it for hours. I dreamt of being Captain and sailing the Seven Seas…or over the cornfields…that’s the sea where I come from.’
‘I’ve only sailed on the Great Lakes, like my Dad did.’
‘Lake Michigan is just like an ocean! What do you dream about, Joey?’
‘My favourite toy is my African Safari jungle set! It’s got a hunter and guide with pith helmet and rifles, a log raft with poles, natives with spears, shields and bolo knives that look like meat cleavers, a gorilla, a lion, a giraffe and an elephant! All in a box that looks like a jungle! I have lots of fun with it on rainy days or after watching Tarzan movies. My hunter is Jungle Jim! He fights the gorilla, the lion and the natives with his bare hands, but not at the same time! He’s pals with the elephant!’
‘How long ago did you get it?’
‘Two years ago.’
They walked through the vacant schoolyard, there was no recess in session; the pair played on the swings.
‘Do you like children, Joey?’
‘Some are good, some are bad, just like everyone else.’
She rephrased her question…
‘Someday would you like children of your own?’
‘If it happens, it happens…’
Connie wondered if what Karen said was right; did Joey still believe the stork brought babies?
‘Would you like to split a Forever Yours bar with me, Connie?’
‘I’d love to! I didn’t see you buy it!’
‘I move fast when I have to.’
They sat on the swings facing the school as Joey separated the dark chocolate bar with white nougat and caramel into two equal pieces. She imagined the schoolchildren looking out the window at them chanting,
‘Connie and Joey, up in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love! Then comes marriage…’
They kissed in their swings.
‘I hope we’re not setting a bad example! The time! I have to be back soon to get ready for my shift or our Head Nurse will clobber me!’
Why didn’t their time together last as long as her shift seemed to?
They held hands as they walked back up Douglas Avenue,
‘I feel comfortable with you, Joey!’
‘Gosh! So do I!
Connie’s face turned to panic.
‘I nearly forgot! I have to stop at Matson’s Market to buy some cleanser!’
They walked quicker to North Avenue and entered the small store across the street from the streetcar stop where they met earlier.
Two men were facing Mr. Matson, one turned and pointed a revolver at them.
‘Who the hell are your friends? Oh, you brought me flowers!’
Connie threw her flowers and vase at the man holding the pistol…bullseye!!!
Joey did move fast…
He grabbed the gunman’s arm and threw him to the floor. Connie kept throwing cans at the other man who didn’t have a weapon but was covering his face. Joey picked him up, twirled him over his head whilst giving a Tarzan yell and slammed him to the floor. For a man his age, Mr. Matson leapt from behind the counter with lightning speed and picked up the revolver, pointing at the man who once held it. The man nearly died of fright.
‘Tarzan and Jane! That’s who my friends are! Stay on the floor while I call the cops! You punks are gonna do The Jailhouse Rock!’
‘My arm…’, whimpered the gunman, ‘It’s broken…’
Connie examined the arm as the ex-gunman screamed,
‘No, it’s not.’
‘I can fix that!’, Joey offered.
The police arrived within minutes and took the handcuffed punks away. Only after they left did Connie ask to use the telephone to explain her absence to her Head Nurse.
‘The old dragon accused me of making things up!’
Joey telephoned his friend Detective Granville and asked him to please explain the situation to her…the detective promised he would.
‘I’ll read her the Riot Act! No, give me the name of her boss! You-know-what always rolls downhill, and she’s in it!’
Finished on the telephone, Joey asked,
‘Connie, weren’t you scared?’
‘Never when I’m around you…’
Mr. Matson spoke,
‘I’ll replace your vase and give you the biggest bouquet you ever saw! Anything else you two want, you let me know!’
They spoke simultaneously,
‘A Forever Yours bar, please.’
FIN
Author Notes: I am the author of three Extra Dimensional/Ultraterrestial military science fiction novels MERCENARY EXOTIQUE, OPERATION CHUPACABRA and WORK IN OTHER WORLDS FROM YOUR OWN HOME! as well as two travel books THE MAN FROM WAUKEGAN and TWO AUSTRALIANS IN SCOTLAND (all from Lulu.com). I live happily ever after with my wonderful wife in paradise (coastal Kiama, NSW Australia).
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Australia • 68 years old