Summer Band

Summer Band. I always loved summer band. Not because I loved to play my flute, or practice, but because it gave you something to do in the summer. The summer after fourth grade, Georgie was in Summer Band with me. I had to try really hard not to laugh when I saw her there the first week. Her Mom had decided to give her a permanent for the summer. That meant she had really really curley hair. I decided that friends just help each other through hard times like that, so we just never talked about it. We got to spend time together because we both played the flute. The difference between us was, she actually practiced and got to be very good. I hated to practice. We both loved summer band. The kids in band got to do lots of fun things. We had snow cone parties and that was so cool. Free to band kids. Some days Mr. Kier, our band director would bring a popcorn machine and we all got to have popcorn. It was just like the movie popcorn. We also practiced for parades. Every summer we got to march in a parade. It was the most exciting thing to get to take a school bus to another town and march down the street in a parade. Even if all of that stuff was exciting, the best was the celebration at the end of the summer. The whole band, about 30 kids, got to go to the amusement park in Denver.

That was my favorite part of the summer. It was free for us and we stayed there a long time. It was fun to hang out with your friends and feel like you were one of the big kids. Our ticket was paid, but we brought money for hotdogs and candy. I loved the rides. I loved the big roller coaster and most of all I loved the Hammer. It spun you around so fast. When you went upside down your cheeks looked like they were pudding, going up and sagging down. Georgie did not like that ride. I had to beg her to go on it with me. I learned that you should not make your friends go on rides that they did not like. Georgie had such a look of terror on her face, even though I was laughing and yelling, she did not change the scared look on her face the whole time. She let go of her coin purse and it started flying around and around in the cage we were in. The money started falling out and coins were clinking all over. I kept yelling, "Grab it, grab it." She never moved until the ride was over. We gathered up her stuff and got off the ride. She looked mad at me and said she would never do that again.

You would think I would learn from this, but I talked another girl into going on it with me. She threw up. On the ride. While we were going upside down, so instead of coinns flying around, it was something much more gross. That was horrible and I never talked anyone into going with me on that ride again.

I love Summer Band.