They are still friends after eighty years. Two young girls who grew up as Lucille and Geraldine in Mtn. View Oklahoma, moved to various places of the U.S., now a short drive from each other in Oklahoma City. Lucille’s 90th birthday was just a while back, and Geraldine’s 89th is a few short months away.
They decided to see each other, and Geraldine brought one present in a colorful sack, and wrapped with beautiful tissue paper. Lucille opened it, reached in and pulled the presents out. They were simple. Three snack-sized bags of Fritos brand chips. Lucille smiled and the two of them laughed.
76 years earlier in 1948 they lived in the southwest town of Mtn. View Oklahoma, population not quite a 1000. Lucille’s Dad had come in to do business, and the two girls had walked to town. Lucille was 14 and Geraldine was 12 or 13, so the two of them walked the sunny day, three blocks of Main Street, looked in the windows at the Crabtree Drug Store and sat in Lucille’s Dad’s car and talked and talked. Lucille had a quarter that her Dad had given her, and she told Geraldine she would be right back.
She ran into Robinsons grocery store, jumped back in the car, parked beside of Hockaday Hardware, and pulled out a small bag, a nickels worth, of Fritos Corn Chips. They had never had them. They were invented in 1934 and they were just making the way across the U.S.. She opened the bag, and they smelled the grand scent of corn and spices and oil, all mixed together, sharing the bag until it was gone.
They laughed, they told stories that only girls would tell, and Lucille said she would be right back, hopped out of the car, ran into Robinson’s and came out running with another bag. Their afternoon on Saturday continued, when Lucille said she would be back again, and she brought another bag of chips.
Just Fritos. 76 years ago. Brought back memories like yesterday.
Ralph Peck
Picture 1948 Advertisement
Mtn. View, Oklahoma
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