Gonna party like it’s 1999

Ever since my mother lost a baby boy – David Paul – in her first trimester of pregnancy, I often wondered what life would’ve been like if this tenderhearted first grader had the chance to welcome that little brother into the world.

No longer did I have to imagine what that feeling might be like once Ricky Rozzo appeared on the scene some eight years later to help this rising sophomore out of an unforeseen predicament.

Even though the perceptive little fella was six years my junior, we had a cosmic connection the first time I met him on a hot summer day while riding my bike on the asphalt behind Northside Elementary School.

We were like two peas in a pod!

I remember thinking that he would’ve been approximately the same age as my biological brother if he had been given the opportunity at life outside the womb.

When the chain slipped on my bicycle, the nine-year-old climbed down from the monkey bars and walked across the pavement to lend me a helping hand as I sat there with a disgruntled look splashed across my face.

Upon informing me that one of the tools tucked away on our garage workbench could repair the problem, I proceeded to walk my two-wheeler back across the street to search out the necessary screwdriver in the outbuilding behind the church parsonage.

With nothing better to do, the curious mischief-maker snatched up his own mode of transportation and followed me back to my humble abode next to the Pentecostal church at the corner of North Street and Orchard Avenue.

After keeping a keen eye on my newfound friend’s expert mechanical skills as he quickly came up with a viable solution to the problem at hand, I excitedly asked if he’d like to take a gander at my gnarly garage attic clubhouse directly above our heads prior to heading back to the playground.

Once this talkative twosome climbed up the wooden ladder into my home away from home, the amiable little whippersnapper dropped his jaw upon spotting our four-foot swimming pool only mere yards away through the open barn door.

As they say, the rest is the stuff of legend!

Since our move to the little hamlet nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Somerset County was quickly approaching, I couldn’t very well leave town without hosting one more epic sleepover to say a final goodbye to my surrogate little brother.

“I’m glad you were able to come over to spend the night,” I pronounced after eating a late dinner of burgers and fries at Winkies which was situated along Beaver Avenue. “Since we’ll be moving to the mountains in a couple weeks, I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to see you again; so, tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1999.”

“That sounds like a totally gnarly plan to me,” trumpeted Ricky as he slipped this party animal some skin while walking around the corner to Fifth Street. “When I got your phone call the other day, I had to practically beg my mother to let me come over; but then she realized my absence allowed her to go out with her girlfriends.”

The blue-eyed blond skipped down the hill holding up an imaginary dress while imitating his mother’s counterparts!

We shouted out the lyrics to Prince’s hit tune “1999” which was the title track from his fifth studio album with the same name as we entered the echo chamber under the railway overpass.

“Say, say, 2000-00, party over… out of time, so tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.”

Shortly after entering the second-floor apartment, the sixth grader made a pit stop in the bathroom while I disconnected the Atari gaming system from the living room television set; so, I could hook it up to the black and white box in my bedroom for a Pac-Man showdown between two gaming aficionados.

You make a better door than a window!

“Hold your horses,” I exclaimed while glancing over at my sisters sitting on the couch. “This is a repeat episode since The Dukes of Hazzard season finale was on last Friday night; and it’s not like you haven’t seen Rosco P. Coltrane chasing after the Duke boys.”

“He’ll be out of the way in a minute,” promised Mom after dropping off an edible surprise in my bedroom for two hungry boys who each had a bottomless pit. “Considering your brother has company tonight, you girls need to cut him some slack; because he always minds his manners anytime either of youns have someone here.”

Directly after gathering up all the essential parts, I hurried through my siblings’ sleeping quarters before making it to my own to reassemble the gaming console with accompanying joysticks; after which my special guest graced me with his presence.

“I was beginning to think that maybe you fell in,” I chuckled upon revealing the delicious plate of brownies accompanied with two tall glasses of milk. “Feast your eyes on the pièce de résistance that my mother brought us from the kitchen; but this is just the appetizer to an endless supply of munchies for tonight’s soiree.”

I’m glad I made room for more!

Following a quick clothes changing act to slip into something more comfortable, I lifted the lid on my stereo console to find a radio station playing some of our favorite tunes; and that’s when the words to Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” emitted from the speakers causing us to gyrate about the room displaying our fancy footwork.

Upon releasing all that pent up energy from our system, we snatched the scrumptious snacks from my desk to continue our totally epic weekend together.

Immediately after taking our assigned seats in front of the television set to battle it out with the hockey puck eating ghost, we clicked our glasses of milk together before shouting out one of our favorite catchphrases.

Through the lips and over the gums, look out stomach here it comes!