This week I had the pleasure of getting some one-to-one time with Jess, my nephew-by-choice. It was so great talking to him. For some reason, after he left, I remembered a night when Jess was about the age he is in this picture:
Lynne was driving us somewhere, and Jess and Matt were in the back seat. I don’t remember if we were trying to decide where to eat, but the two boys suddenly began singing, “Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut. McDonald’s, McDonald’s.” I didn’t realize at the time that this was a song of many verses (here’s a version that includes a Ferrari, and there’s another variation with Jabba the Hut). I guess it started as a Scouting song, and in 2003, long after Jess and Matt sang it, a band called the Fast Food Rockers recorded a version of it. Who knows why Jess and Matt’s rendition shows up in my brain from time to time, but we ended up ordering pizza at The Compound after its most recent occurrence as my ear worm. Pizza Hut should pay kids for their promotional work.
I used to wonder, as I was growing up, how it was that teens I met from all over the country knew the same ghost stories, the same songs, the same Hollywood gossip–especially stuff that was too racy for TV or print media so had to be spread by word of mouth. It’s easy in the Internet age to understand how information–and misinformation–spreads like wildfire via email, Twitter, Facebook, youtube, etc. Still, even before technology, urban legends and things you wouldn’t repeat to your grandma managed to find their way into our lives. I still know that Comet makes your teeth turn green; that if teens go parking, the guy with The Hook will show up; and rock stars control us with subliminal messages. None of that stuff bothers me; if I need backup, I can summon the alligators from the sewer.
Scariest urban legend ever…”humans can lick too.”
..and I am geting up to double check my locks
Ha ha.
I’m quite sure in my case the nuns in my grade school were the source of the most dreaded stories in my childhood.