Space Age Love Song

When I lived (briefly) in Syracuse in the early-eighties, I busied myself at becoming the hippest sixth grader at the skating rink. I spent the better part of my Saturday mornings in my room, prepping myself for my grand entrance into Empire Skates. With "Beat It" blaring in the background, on went the purple eyeshadow, the cut-off lace gloves and the Aqua Net (pink can, naturally). At the time, those barrettes with the ribbons woven through were all the rage. They usually were made with two colors of ribbon.

But I had my secret weapon to get myself noticed.

I had a pair with seven ribbons each--- one for every color of the rainbow. No one else in town had them, and when I paired them with my rainbow striped dolman sleeved t-shirt, well, let's just say I was IT, baby. A final spritz of Love's Baby Soft, and I was out the door.

I have only a couple of clear memories from the rink. Somehow, each afternoon went the same way:

1) Clammer into the rink with about five friends.

2) Ignore ticket lady as she rolls her eyes at us. Clearly, her time had past, and she was JEALOUS of our fabulousness.

3) Race to the benches to put on five identical pairs of the blue-skates-with-red-stripe-and-white-pompon-with-bells combo.

4) I would try to lift Pam T's Member's Only jacket, unsuccessfully. Mine was flesh colored, and sucked (thanks mom).

5) Skate round and round to a mish mosh of Cool and the Gang, Flock of Seagulls and Rick Springfield.

6) Slowly skate off the floor when Couples Only skate was called, looking like I didn't care at all that no one ever asked me to skate. I was too cool to care.

7) Roller Limbo contest. Kristie S. was a gymnast and about two feet tall, so she always won. But one week, some random guy beat her, and it was the scandal of the week. Kristie was hysterical, and we all threw hexes at the poor dude that beat her.

8) Picked up by parents on the corner waaaay away from the rink. Stephanie's dad picked us up once in front of the rink ,and we, like, almost died.

Ward is also from Syracuse, and we spent one day early into our marriage drinking and laughing over the enigma that was Empire Skates. Seriously, everyone went there. Ask anyone currently in their mid-thirties that even passed through the damn town, and I'm sure they'll know the place. It was like a pre-teen Studio 54.

Together we remembered the drama of the place. The music. The social structure. The ticker lady. The limbo contest.

"Yeah," he said. "There was this little chick that won every week, and one week I kicked her ass."

I didn't believe that Ward was that same kid---until he got down on the floor and demonstrated the infamous sideways Shoot the Dog move that toppled Kristie from her throne.

Still trying to pick my jaw up off the carpet, he blew me away again with, "Yeah, and I was always too shy to ask anyone to skate. There was this girl I always had my eye on, but I never went over...

...she wore a rainbow shirt and had these really cool rainbow ribbon barrettes...."