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One summer day back in 1974, Cisco and I were headed to The Mall for a day of shopping and hanging out. We were dressed in hot pants, halter-tops, and platform shoes. I was wearing a mint green pair of short shorts that barely covered my derriere with a matching halter. I had on some really cute platform shoes that went perfectly with the outfit I was wearing.

Cisco and I had decided to take the bus to go shopping. Back in that day, I took public transportation almost everywhere I went. There were two buses that left City Hall for The Mall. They were the Number 4 and the Number 12. Although we didn’t know the schedule of either bus, we knew they each departed hourly.

The main event for us at the mall was not the shopping, but our eating experience. We could never go to that shopping center without visiting Friendly’s. At the Friendly’s Restaurant we’d place the same order each and every time. Both Cisco and I would get a Fishamajig with fries. For drinks, I would have a root beer float and Cisco would order a Strawberry Fribble. 

But, back to our mission of boarding a bus to go to the mall, we turned the corner from Church Street and saw a bus taking in passengers in front of the City Hall. The back of the bus was facing us. I asked Cisco if she thought it was one of our buses. She couldn’t see the number. I was freaking, positive that it had to be our bus. If it was, we needed to get on it. “Come on!” We ran toward the bus. In my haste, I stepped on a pebble. Some of you will recall that stepping on the smallest nugget in 1970’s platform shoes would at best break a person’s stride. In the worst-case scenario, that misstep could break her neck.

Under normal circumstances, I am a graceful person. There was no evidence of that when I began to stumble. I must have tripped for a full minute. My arms were waving around as I tried to get my balance. Finally, I realized that my flailing was useless. I was going to hit the concrete. I fell on the ground in broad daylight in front of City Hall! I picked myself up; checked my bruised knees and elbows. I hobbled with Cisco toward the bus. As we approached the bumper of the bus, it pulled off when the traffic light turned green.