As I look back on my high school days, I remember many great memories with many great friends.
But for some reason, the adventures I had with Frankie Bruzzi are the ones that make the best stories.
Whenever we go camping, my children love to hear the mishaps of Frankie and their dad.
Frank and I were co-section leaders for the saxophone section in the marching band. We would frequently carpool together to school and band practice – and since Frank had his own truck, he usually was the one that drove.
We had stopped at Sheetz and got our typical after band practice snack – a bag of Snyder’s Picadilly Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips – Mountain Dew – and a pair of Tijuana Mama pickled sausages.
As we rounded the curves into Burtville, I finished my hot sausage – and raised the plastic pouch to my lips, sucking down the red vinegar, and erupting in a huge “AH!” worthy of a Coca-Cola commercial.
Frankie asked, “Is that good?”
Of course it was good. It was extremely spicy, extremely salty, and extremely sour.
So Frank followed suit, and inhaled his leftover spicy vinegar.
Unfortunately, having not honed his taste buds for such extremes, Frank’s palette decided to reject the pickled goodness.
Gag. Cough. “Josh, take the wheel!”
Then the cool autumn breeze whipped into the cab as Frank, maintaining his highway speeds, rolled down the window, and leaned his entire torso out of the truck.
I frantically tried to maintain control of the truck, while Frankie expelled every last bit of his Tijuana Mama all over Route 6, all the while keeping his foot on the gas pedal.
“I told you to take the wheel!” Frankie yelled, still spitting and hacking in the wind.
“I’m trying, I’m not used to driving from this side of the road!” I hollered back. I was simultaneously frightened for my life and laughing hysterically.
Frankie recovered and pulled back into the car, still coughing and swigging Mountain Dew in an effort to clear his pallet, while scolding me for not warning him of the intensity of the Tiujana Mama juice.
November 11, 2011 at 5:22 am
The sad part of this is that I can see it happening…Frankie with his little scrawny body hanging out the window losing it and you trying desperately to get closer to the steering wheel to keep it out of the ditch…oh what i would give to be young again and do just a little bit more of the stupid stuff we did back then.