Purple Tongue

Gorky and I were heading home from Hayden Island; we had just finished shopping, getting the last few things we needed to finish redoing the bathroom. Some caulk, a drill bit and several feet of baseboard. The sun was oppressive and just carrying stuff to the car made me break a sweat. "It's hot." I complained.

"Do you want to stop at Starbucks and get a frappuccino, smoothie, thingy?" Gorky asked.

"Starbucks? A frappuccino thingy?" I whined. "I want a Slurpee."

"A Slurpee." Gorky said, cocking an eyebrow. "I've never had a Slurpee."

I almost crashed the car. "You've never had a Slurpee? Seriously, never?"

"We were poor, we didn't get Slurpees. We got frozen Kool-aid on a stick."

"That's unbelievable. Well, I'm driving and I'm stopping at 7-Eleven. I just can't believe you've never had a Slurpee." I started ranting. "My God. I grew up on Slurpees. I remember collecting Slurpee cups when I was a kid. We used to hang out in front of the 7-Eleven, sitting on our bikes sucking down Slurpees just before we rode through the dips, or found a cardboard box to slide down chicken hill with, or if we felt really ambitious we would try to ride our bikes out to Vasquez Rocks. A journey we never actually completed. Hmm… maybe it was all that sugar now that I think about it." By the time I finished rambling we had arrived at 7-Eleven.

Gorky just stood watching me as I got my cup and plastic dome lid. I glanced over and she wrinkled her nose. I started filling my cup. I put some blue on the bottom, red Hawaiian Punch flavor in the middle and purple on top. Having not poured myself a Slurpee for several years my Slurpee pouring skill weren't up to par and I slopped some of the purple onto the dome lid. "Aren't you getting one?" I asked Gorky while licking up some of the excess purple.

Gorky added a curled lip to her already wrinkled nose, somehow making it look cute. "I don't know." She answered.

I gave her a look and shoved the overflowing Slurpee in front of her. "Just taste it."

Gorky cautiously poked out her tongue and tasted the overflowing purple Slurpee. Her eyes lit up and she started smacking her lips. "Where are the cups?"

Ten minutes later we're home lounging on the couch in brain frozen bliss. Gorky looks at me, opens her mouth wide, and lets her tongue hang out. It's bright blue. With her tongue still out she says, "Dow meh dour dongue." I stick out my tongue. "Id’s burble." She laughs and finally puts her tongue back in her mouth.

I suck the last few drops of Slurpee from my cup and look at Gorky with a contented smile. She sticks her blue tongue out at me again and I giggle. "Now that's summer baby, that's summer."




I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but I couldn't seem to get around to making the painting. Then last night as I was about to get ready for bed I passed by the table with all the painting stuff on it and became possessed. I just sat down and started drawing on some watercolor paper and then I colored it in with the watercolor pencils. By that time it was 3AM. When I got up this morning, er… afternoon, I wet my favorite brush, spread the paint and then finished the picture by inking it in with my Gel-Roller.

Have you ever had a Slurpee? Have you left me some love?