It's 9AM

How do you start summer days?

It’s too early to call it light.

The nighttime sky gives way to day and the color of the world around you shifts.

Like a change in perspective.

Still too early for dawn’s early light, but bright enough to make a difference.

Another last Monday in a month that went by too fast.

Another “unofficial” start of summer, though when I was in school this was the day.

Memorial Day weekends kicked off our summer season and we were out until Labor Day.

It just seemed an easier way to keep up with a schedule.

It changed as I moved up in grades.

They added days to the end of the school year, though we only watched movies or did busy work for the most part.

Except for the occasional teacher who was a hard ass and decided that what they were teaching needed that extra time.

Mrs. Houston assigning homework to turn in on the last day of class.

Mr. Hall making sure we could tell the difference between the Greek and Roman and Sumerian cultures.

All the while our minds were on how to spend those lazy days.

A lot of my friends went to the Country Club or were members of a big private pool called Eden Park.

Some even had pools in their backyard, a perfect spot to knock out summer reading lists.

I got to entertain my younger brother and make sure he was safe while mom was at work, and once I started working, that occupied my summer days.

I remember getting paid by Papaw, my first job, and taking one of the dollar bills up to the gas station a few blocks from where we lived.

Going inside to get change and letting my kid brother stand in front of the vending machine as he decided what kind of Coke he was going to get.

It was a no brainer for me, because even though most people from the South want a Dr. Pepper when they ask for a Coke, and most people from the North want a Pepsi when they ask for a soda, I am above all things, loyal.

I only had eyes for Coke.

The kind you could use to clean rust off a wrench, clean a toilet, eat corrosion off a battery cable AND quench a raging thirst.

My kid brother on the other hand, was a wild man who liked to experiment.

And there was something new in the machine.

Something green.

Something called Mountain Dew.

Yellow. Crisp.

And new.

He went for it and I got in trouble.

Because that much sugar and caffeine mainlined into his veins turned him into a playing machine.

We biked. We climbed trees. We played baseball. We played with the neighbors. We ran and jumped and yelled.

And laughed.

The memory of his laughter still makes me smile.

Mom said that much Dew wasn’t good for him, but she still got him one every time we got that treat or I was buying with my work money.

Cold drinks, warm memories playing outside in the sun. Baseball.

I guess I spend a lot of my summer days on weekends and after five doing what I learned as a kid.

A realization that only recently dawned on me.

How do you spend your summer days?

A Ghost of a Chance (The Nightwatch Book 1) (free)

Memorial Day Special

Beyond The Veil: A Muse Urban Fantasy (free)

On The Run: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (free)

Beachhead - a sci fi thriller (free)

Hide - a post apoc thriller (free)