Car Talk with Dad

 

 CONVERSATION IN DAD’S CAR ONE TWILIGHT IN 1974

 

“Hey kid, who’s that cluck?”

“Oh Dad, he’s just a friend.”

“Where did you meet this friend?  Seems a little old for you.”

“I met him through my friend Susan, she’s new in my class.  He plays in her brother’s band.  It’s a rock band.  “They play a lot of Santana.”

“Santana?  What’s that because it’s not familiar.”

“They’re cool.  They play rock but with a Latin beat.”

“I’ll assume they don’t play Cha Cha Cha.”

“No, Dad, they don’t play at weddings or school dances.”

“Hey what are you doing? I’m listening to 1010 WINS.”

“I’m trying for find Santana so you can hear them.  Wow, I got them.  Listen.”

 

‘Got a black magic woman……she’s trying to make a devil out of me.’

 

“Uh huh, that’s enough for me. Put it back on 1010.”

 

                ‘The Hearst Family has received a ransom message from the Symbionese Liberation Army regarding their daughter, Patty….’ 

 

“What’s the Symbionese Liberation Army?  Who’s Patty Hearst?”

“They are a bunch of ne’er-do-wells and violent criminals.  This rich girl got mixed up with them and now she thinks she’s Angela Davis.”

“It sounded like they kidnapped her to get money.  You’re making it sound like she wants to be there.”

“People who are wealthy are not necessarily healthy.  Their money doesn’t always bring them joy.”

“I wish we were rich, don’t you?”

“Why?  We have a nice home and a good car.  Your mom is a great wife and mother.  You go to a good school, take dance and piano lessons, what more do you want?”

“Clothes, records, I don’t know, money.”

“Listen kid,  you’re going up the hill.  I’m already on my way down.  Whenever everyone is going right, go left.  I have been around a lot longer and met lots of windbags and braggarts.  Just remember this, the emptiest can makes the loudest noise.  Take this Patty Hearst, for example.  One of the richest families in the richest nation in the world.  She went to the best schools.  Ate and drank the finest there is and probably less happy than you or I.  Don’t waste time worrying about being rich.  You have more than millions of kids in this world and you’re very fortunate.  Never forget it.”

 

YVONNE ANZOLONE

September 2021