I went out for breakfast with a few friends this morning. We decided to go to the Bluebonnet Cafe in Haltom City. If I can stay awake long enough I'll tell you a little bit about it. It's been around for twenty-nine years and I had never heard of it....of course I don't pay attention to most conversations so I could have easily missed it...everyone else in the group, and there were five old wornout coots in the group, knew about and had been there at least once over the years. I wasn't very hungry so I simply ordered a cup of coffee and biscuits with gravy. Normally that's a reasonable order if you aren't too hungry. The waitress carried out this huge platter of biscuits and a matching sized bowl of gravy. When I saw her coming I figured she was bringing the order for all of us at the table but no...she sat it down right in front of me. Two others had ordered the same so two more platters of biscuits with gravy came to the table. The two remaining guys had ordered a regular breakfast with eggs, bacon or sausage, toast and hash browns. I'm glad none of us ordered the "tall stack" of pancakes or we might still be there. The food was delicious but none of us could put a dent in our respective orders. There were lots of biscuits carried home for the wives. I don't think I'll be able to eat the rest of the day.
Anyway, that's not what I chose to write about. The tale is about the ride over there. It was a true, dyed in the wool stroll down Memory Lane for all of us. We weren't reminiscing much until we passed the old Haltom City Theatre (the only theatre I was ever thrown out of twice, thank you old junior high buddy Harry). Seems like all of us started pointing and talking at the same time then. We had all spent time there growing up...well, maybe not Tom. He grew up somewhere else but the rest of us all had stories to tell about that old movie house. I remember daddy driving us over there from Hurst on Saturdays, dropping us off, then driving back over to pick us up. Don's memories included being dropped off at the theatre with a nickel for a giant Butterfinger candy bar and instructions to not leave the theatre until he was picked up. One day he and his brother watched the same movie four times before their parents picked them up. Daddy did this occasionally, especially if he and mama needed to do some Christmas shopping, but it wasn't a regular occurrence.
My first trip to the Haltom Theatre was when I was seven or eight years old. Uncle Frog took my brother Glenn and me out for hamburgers at the Brown Trail drive-in and then on to Haltom City to see "The Bridge Over the River Kwai". Uncle Frog let each of us order a chocolate malt with our meals if we promised we would finish them! We both agreed that would be no problem. Now let me say that a 55-gallon drum of chocolate malt is a lot of ice cream for a five and seven year old to consume in one sitting...and each of us had one. We couldn't even carry them in one hand when they were handed to us. I gotta tell you, we both sucked on those things as fast as we could trying to finish them before we got to movies. We hadn't made much headway when we passed the Haltom City limits sign out on Hwy 183. I was sitting in the front seat with uncle Frog while Glenn was in the back. Frog looked over at me and said, "I hope you boys are about finished with those malts. If they aren't gone when we get to the movie, you're going to sit in the parking lot....all alone.....in the dark, until they're all gone." Our malt sucking went into overdrive and just before we got there I hit the bottom of mine and tossed the empty out the window. (Back then no one gave littering a second thought.) I heard the empty cup hit the road and it sounded just like an empty cup should sound....no noise. I announced my completion of the malt proudly and wished I could throw up. Less than a minute after I tossed my cup out, Glenn's window came down and he threw his out bragging he had finished too. Funny thing though, my cup throwing was uneventful. Glenn's sounded like a chocolate explosion going off. Malt hit the road but only after hitting uncle Frog's Pontiac and dripping down the side of it. I don't know how it happened unless Frog was puttering around real slow but when the cup hit the ground it had time to splash back up on the car's rear panel. The right side of that old Pontiac was covered and dripping chocolate malt when we parked at the theatre. Old uncle Frog didn't have too much to say about it. He was good that way...but he never took us out for hamburgers and chocolate malts again....ever!
That was only one of the fond memories of driving through Haltom City today. We were so busy pointing out landmarks it made me wish I could go back in time for just one day to experience some of those memories we all had. I won't tell stories about all of them but you might remember some of those memories we shared: 1) The Haltom City Theatre of course; 2) the Haltom Drive-in with the big bison painted on the front; 3) the Shetland Pony farm back behind where the old Farmer's Market was located...remember the ancient pick up trucks lined up with all kinds of fruits and vegetables?; 4) the Clown Burger; 5) the Holiday Skating Rink (the only skating rink I was ever thrown out of, thank you again Harry you old troublemaker); 6) the propane store with the old rocket standing in the parking lot (that old rocket is still standing there); 7) the Old South Pancake House; the original Birdville High School where Haltom City and Richland Hills produced their scholars back then; 8) and of course I had to point out where Debbie and I lived when we were first married... Bertha Lane down behind where the old Mitchell's Department store stood.
These were my memories, sparked as we drove through town. Each one of us had our own stories to tell and I won't steal any of their good times. They can tell the stories if they want you to hear them. I'll even give them the blog space but I doubt they'll take me up on it. They all seem to still have active lives while all I have is this old laptop and lots of memories. I wouldn't trade with any of them!
I remember Uncle Frog coming to the house in his brand new white 1957 Pontiac Star Chief. I think it had white leather upholstery. He drove mom and dad, my brothers and I to Llano in it. I got car sick, as I was prone to do, and threw up in it. I think that was the last time I rode in Uncle Frog's 1957 Pontiac Star Chief.
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