A to Z April Challenge: Z is for ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Genealogists and family historians get a lot of satisfaction from chasing their ancestors’ stories. Finding a diary, a message on a postcard, or a photo with a name attached is like the sun coming out after a storm. One day we will be somebody’s ancestor. We need to leave our descendants a little bit of sunshine too. So here is my story told alphabetically, not chronologically: Growing Up in Cradock.

is for ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Did anyone ever sleep at a sleepover? When I was in junior high school and maybe even early high school, a sleepover was a major event. Typically it was part of a birthday party but not always. Maybe it was just the crowd I hung with, but at every single one of them, the goal was to stay up all night.

How did we manage to do that? About the time that it was officially “late,” we watched “Shock Theater,” a local television show in which a Dracula-type vampire would rise out of a coffin with his greeting, “Good EEEE-ven-ing.” Then he introduced some classic horror movie featuring Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, the Mummy or somebody along those lines.

After the movie, it was time for prank phone calls. These gags were pretty funny to 12 and 13-year olds but are old hat now. Well, not just old, not even funny. We grabbed the phone book, opened to a random page, and dialed a random number. The gags went like this:

“Is your refrigerator running? Well, you’d better go catch it!” OR

“Do you have Prince Albert in a can? Well, you’d better let him out.”

Yeah, we were a laugh riot.

My sister's sleepover at our house - 9th birthday party 1968

The most fun though was a special phone number supplied by one of the local radio stations. The number connected to something like a pre-Internet chat room. When the number connected, you could hear everybody who was calling and then strike up a conversation. We often exchanged phone numbers with other slumber parties and called each other. Now, this was in the days before cell phones, so it was ONE house phone. Everyone at the party who wanted to talk just had to wait their turn.

Some girls had bad experiences at sleepovers where the girls would do something mean to any girl who fell asleep (like covering their face with shaving cream or freezing water in their bra). Fortunately I never attended such a party. If someone fell asleep, it was allowed.

As for me, I hung in there. But Saturdays were never good as a result. Sometimes Momma would have a long list of things for me to do just so that I could not take a nap. That would teach me! 

Zip, Zoom, or Zigzag over to the A to Z April Challenge Zone for Zillions of Zesty Zingers by Zealous Zanies before they are Zapped.  But the challenge is now over, so it’s time for me to catch some zzzzzzzzzzzz’s.

Now where's that Survivor Badge?

© 2016, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.