The Soda Fountain
Chapter 1 · Help Wanted · A BigScreen story, summer 1961
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Character voices and narration from Chapter 1.
The summer of 1961, I was sixteen years old, and I had a plan. In the window of Kessler’s Drugstore sat a red record player, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I had eleven dollars and forty cents. And right underneath it… was a little sign. Help wanted. Soda fountain.
So. You want to work my fountain, young lady. Ever made a chocolate soda before?
No, sir. Not yet. But I learn fast. Really fast.
Well, now. That’s the best chocolate soda I’ve had all week. And I have one every single day.
Hey, new kid. Why’d the ice cream cone go to the doctor? It was feeling a little… rocky road! Aw, come on. That one’s a classic.
Saturday. Nine o’clock sharp. And wear comfortable shoes.
I walked home the long way that evening, humming the whole way. Eleven dollars and forty cents… and a job. I didn’t know it yet, but that counter was going to teach me a whole lot more than how to make a soda.