Mix Tapes and Chicken Pox

This was three posts on the blog site mixtapeshistory.blogspot.com. I combined all the posts into this one post here. You can read the whole story here.

The Fourth of July 1980 had to be the best time ever. Mix went to see his cousins in Montecello New York with his parents. These are cousins on his father’s side of the family. The cousins were older than Mix but this time they let him go with them to the malls. They drove around town with him as well. He never left Schuyler. Malls were malls anywhere a person went. There was a big store, a music store, a food court, and an arcade. 

Mix got back home on the sixth of July ready to see his friends. Orville’s parents had a sprinkler for their yard that went back and forth over the same area so the boys would jump through it on hot days. When his parents left, Orville called Mix. Orville’s sister and him never got along.

Mix’s back felt itchy that morning . Summer humidity felt heavy in the air. He reached around as best he could to scratch. The itch slowed but it still didn’t stop. He threw on a tee short and shorts and left the house at ten in the morning to look to see who was around. The  stores on Kearny Avenue had crowds inside and cars blocked the streets. He got to Orvilles’ house and saw the sprinkler soaking the grass. Mix walked to the back of the house and knocked on the door. Orville answered but couldn’t play in the sprinkler. 

“It’s what we do in summer,” Mix said. He shrugged his shoulders and wiggled. “It’s hot out this morning.”

“What are you doing?” 

“What?”

“You’re shaking and..” Orville imitated the wiggling that Mix did. 

“My back is itchy. The summer is getting to me already.” He reached around to his back to scratch his spine. 

“I can’t come out today. My mother wants to go to some store so I have to go too.”

Mix said he would see Orville later and he went back home. His mother had come home  for lunch and she saw Mix wiggling as he walked. 

“Are you practicing to be a model?” 

“My back is itchy and I can’t scratch it.”

She called Mix over and told him to turn around. She lifted his shirt and screeched “yeech.” Mix tried to turn, but she held his shoulders in place. “How long has this been going on?”

“This morning. Why what is it?”

“Your back is a mess of sores. It’s not acne. I don’t think it’s acne. You’re too young for acne.” She looked at her fingers. “We have to go to the doctor.” She washed her hands and went for the phone attached to the wall.

“The doctor. It’s summer. I can’t be sick.” Mix spun around while his arms stretched to scratch his back. “It’s nothing right? We were going to go to Action Park. Great Adventure.” 

His mother couldn’t have heard him because she had the phone to her ear talking. They were at the doctor two hours later. It took longer to get to the doctor office than they spent with the doctor. The doctor entered the room and told a Mix to lift his shirt. 

“Chicken pox,” the doctor said. He walked out. 

They were at the druggist three hours later to get calamine lotion.  

Mix sat in his mother’s car really wanting to scratch the back of his arms.  His back bothered him and now his arms and he couldn’t scratch. The car radio played “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree, the soft rock kind of song that adults liked. Mix never paid attention to what kind of music his parents liked. He listened to the radio like his friends, but he never really cared. His mother told him chicken pox happens to everyone. He did nothing wrong. How could Mix do anything wrong? He woke up and had to scratch. 

They got home and Mix stood in the middle of the living room. “What do I do?”

She said that she needed to help him apply the calamine then he had to make sure he stayed covered. “Don’t need that chicken pox goo getting on everything,” she said. Calls were made to his aunt and uncle and it turned out that his one cousin just got the chicken pox too. 

Summer practically began and he had to cover up and stay inside. 

Chicken Pox Quarantine Days

The first day of quarantine was fun. Mix played Space Invaders on the Atari in the living room for three hours. Space Invaders was such a simple fun game. It had a repeating bass thump for background music as the invaders moved left to right and down. 

His mother made lunch. She must have felt bad for him because he had tuna on toast with a Twinkie. His mother hated Twinkies. She only bought them because Mix complained when there weren’t any in the house. He would buy them at the convenience store after school if he had to so she wouldn’t know. 

His mother stayed home from work to take care of him. Both his parents worked so in the sumer he had to call her at least three times a day so they knew he stayed out of trouble. Having his mother around was a decent change. She watched him play games. She played Gin rummy 500 with him. 

His father came home from the Ford plant at five o’clock. He sat with Mix on the couch and asked how he felt. They never really talked before. His father talked about sports while Mix didn’t really listen and his father didn’t really listen to him in return. His father said he had chicken pox when he was about Mix’s age. Mix never knew. 

The first day was actually pretty good and it was fun. 

The fourth day was more of the same. Mix didn’t feel like playing Space Invaders again so he went through his music collection in his room. He played every album from beginning to end. Album cuts weren’t bad. He even read the liner notes and he hated to read, well, read what school told him to read. His mother had to go back to work so Mix had the television to himself. He watched the game shows in the morning and left “Search For Tomorrow” on while he played music. Days of Our Lives went on after that. 

The day went slow but it was still pretty good. 

The seventh day felt longer than it should. He played Space Invaders for ten minutes before he had enough. This stuck at home in summer felt ridiculous. Orville could play in the sprinkler. Boy-Lee could ride his bike all over town. Stuck at home felt like prison. What do people in prison do all day? He could sit on the couch and sing blues songs. He didn’t know any. 

Once this ends, he had to find some blues songs to learn. People in prison do push ups. He got on the floor. His arms still felt itchy and he couldn’t scratch. The bumps covered his upper arms and his chest now. He dropped to the floor and pushed up a little and his hips stayed on the floor. His shoulders went up and the rest of him sort of came off the floor. 

Sit ups would be better. He turned, laid back and put his hands behind his head. His shoulders came off the floor. His feet came off the floor but not his chest. He fell over. 

He spread on the floor again and tried again. Mix had to grab his pants and pull himself up to sit up. One. He fell back and tried again until he grabbed his pants and pulled himself up again. Two. He felt out of breath.

“Prison sucks. My arms are so itchy!

Quarantine week two

Day 8- another week of this! 

The little bumps stopped spreading and the ones that looked like acne have closed. It doesn’t really itch as much.  

“I should be allowed to go out.” 

“The doctor said two weeks,” his father answered. 

“What about the lawn?” 

Mix had no desire to mow the lawn, but if that worked as a reason to get out, he would use it. His father saw through that.

“The grass will be there when you’re better.” 

Mix looked out the window and saw his neighbors have a barbecue. Elaine tried to do a cartwheel in the grass but she couldn’t get her legs straight. She wore shorts everyday in summer. They used to ride bikes in summer, not she found other things to do. Her brother shot baskets at their basketball net. Mix could smell the hamburgers on the grill from his window. Her father stood over the grill scanning it like he expected perfection. 

Mix learned to use the stove and cook simple things like Spagettios. He usually liked them, but it looked like more fun to be out and have a barbecue.

Anything would be more fun.

Day 11

Mix called Orville that morning. It rained last night so the cars were cleaned and shiny. The grass was too wet to walk in. Somehow it stayed humid. Mix opened the front door to just walk to the car. He had to feel outside. It was too hot.  It would feel better to be inside. Orville couldn’t talk because his mother expected a call from a store about a delivery. 

Music albums of the past wrote stories on the back of the packaging. Modern 1970s covers were pictures and song listing. Mix went through his parents albums and read about jazz and early rock recording. 

“Why don’t you read a book instead of a record?” His mother asked. 

“Books don’t have stuff about old rock and jazz musicians. It’s just school stuff.” 

“Depends on what books. We have to have books on music.” She went to a bookshelf and pulled out a soft cover book. “I don’t know if this is your age, but you might like it. “Elvis-What Happened”. I didn’t read it but I know he died.”

Mix took the book and flipped through the pages. It had pictures. 

“Fine. It will give me something to do.”

He sat by a window and watched the cars pass by. Sunlight reflected off the puddles. Tree branches swayed. The air conditioning worked so he sat and watched until the street emptied. He opened the book.

Day 12

Elvis did drugs. That must have surprised people. He seemed so straight in his movies. The book had all kinds of things. The radio played behind him. They must have played “Emotional Rescue” a dozen times in the past three days. “My Sharona” played on every station at one point. 

The attacking aliens on Space Invaders moved across the screen faster. The shooter shot so slow. That three note bass thumped along without ever freakin changing. 

Roman and Marlena do make a good couple on Days of Our Lives. Search for Tomorrow went quick enough. Every other show went an hour. “Search” got just as much storyline as the hour shows. 

At least these characters went out. Mix had no more bumps and the itchiness stopped. He had to stay in exactly two weeks just because the doctor said

Day 15

The two week of quarantine were over. July 22nd was still early enough in the summer that it wasn’t all lost. He read the first thirty pages of the book his mother gave him. No more reading till school starts. He opened the door and sunlight hit him in the face. 

“Now that you can go out, we are going to Bradlees,” his mother said. “We can get started on school stuff.”