Hilltop Delight…Remember?

Sitting at the light at Hilltop, waiting for it to change to green, I gazed over to my right at a parking lot,  filled with an odd assortment of older model vehicles. That's what I saw, but what do I see? Something altogether different.

I see an ordinary white building in the center of a paved parking lot. Around the outer perimeter of this lot, facing the building as though this were a wagon train encampment, I see vehicles of another sort. Instead of sitting empty with sales banners on the windshields, these cars, these pickup trucks have families eating ice-cream cones, older couples sipping on shakes, and young couples sharing a pizza. Off to one side of the take-out window is a mechanical horse, awaiting it's next victim  young rider. The menu board is posted outside and one could feel delightfully overwhelmed by all the choices. Banana split? Sundae? Ice-cream cone? Pizza? Wedgie? Stromboli? Fried chicken? Slushie?

Eating here as a kid, on the rare occasion that we should stop, would invariably mean a twist cone.
Half chocolate, half vanilla, but always topped with a perfect swirly twirl. My sister Roxanne never wanted her cone so my older sister Kim and I would sometimes argue whose turn it was to eat it this time. It was here that I ventured into uncharted territory and had my first Slushie; a Blue Raspberry icy treat that turned my tongue blue and gave me the worst brain freeze ever.

This white building was Hilltop Delight, a burger/pizza/ice-cream joint that catered to the young crowd on weekend evenings, and the more, shall we say mature crowd for Sunday dinner. This was the place to be after youth group events and for me, was the location of my second date with Leo.

We had attended a Damascus concert at the high school in Salisbury and then decided to stop, along with my best friend and her date, at Hilltop. Leo and I got out of his 1974 Monte Carlo and instead of ordering from the window and then waiting outside until  our number was called, we went inside to sit at one of the booths. I slid in first, trying not to appear nervous. He sat next to me and together we perused the menu.

I didn't know what to order. Was I to pay for my own? Would he? What was he getting? Why doesn't he order first and then I'll just get the same? What was I going to do?

I ordered a Chocolate-covered Frozen Banana.
Because that is not awkward to eat in front of the guy you are trying to impress.
It was probably the cheapest thing on the menu and I was still stressing over the money that I didn't know if he had or not.

First and last Chocolate-covered Frozen Banana I ever had.
I think every other date we had there involved pizza and shrimp. No bananas, unless it was in a split.

After we finished eating, we said our good-byes to our friends and we headed back out across the parking lot to the car. It was then and there that Leo held my hand for the first time. Briefly, just long enough to walk to the car, but inside I melted a little.

I glance up at the stoplight and it changes from red to green. I accelerate and move slowly through the light, not quite ready to leave.The white building fades out of sight again. The families are gone, the busyness replaced by silence. Had I been sitting there for a long time, remembering? It felt like it, but it was only seconds. Seconds with a perfect swirly twirl on top.

Love,
Dianne