Hairs, Nicky, and Me

Old Chile takes us on a two-wheeled journey straight into the heart of boyhood curiosity, forbidden staircases, and one unforgettable delivery run. It’s 1956 in Goose Creek, Texas, and when Chile and his buddy “Hairs” get tasked with bringing mystery bags to the infamous Roxie’s, they think they’ve hit the adventure jackpot. What they find upstairs? Red lamps, sheer tops, and life lessons they definitely weren’t ready for. Puberty never stood a chance.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's old chilly. Welcome, welcome back. I'm glad that you're
here with me. But I'm gonna tell you a little
story today that involves a new character on his name.
This isn't his real name, but anyway, we all kids
called him Hairs because Hairs claimed to have been the

(00:24):
first of us ever to reach puberty. We were just
stealing just right about the sixth grade, I think fifth
or sixth grade. But anyway, Hairs and I would all
the time riding our bicycles looking for great adventures, and
this happens to be one of the adventures at a

(00:44):
place that well, anyway, you'll see how exciting it was
to young men. Anyway, take care. I hope you enjoy it. Now.
I'm gonna call this episode's Nikki Listy and Me. Nineteen

(01:04):
fifty six was a time of V eight engines, flat
top haircuts, and the Mickey Mouse Club. I was ten
years old. My grandmother my mom drove a Plymouth of
Lux Sedan, and I was always an eager passenger. Daily
we'd stop by the old post office in Goose Creek.

(01:26):
After we picked the mail up, we crossed the street
to Harold Scarborough's drug store, I ordered the cherry phosphate
while my mom shopped. I loved to spin around on
the soda fountain stools made me feel big while drinks
fizzled and cheeseburgers griddled all my favorites. While in town,

(01:47):
my mom would scout from my grandfather's old red stew
to baker truck, either parked kind of sideways that the
Apache Lounge or the Goose Creek ice House. Beer was
a daily ritual and necessity with the old German gentleman.
After our fun at Scarborough's, Mone and I motored home,

(02:10):
passing bars and more bars. Goose Creek was the home
of the humble old refinery and oil tanker docks. Ships
came from all over the world to be filled with
freshly refined oil products. The international crews helped the local
merchants prosper Now even Roxy. Now Roxy's bar was downstairs

(02:36):
that was a saloon, and upstairs it was a horror
outs as Hairs to me, I know, Hares told me
because he knew all about it. It seemed Hairs and
I were very interested in what went on inside. We
rode our bikes up and down the alley behind Roxyes
to try to get a glimpse of the ladies. All

(03:00):
we ever saw was an occasional fellow sneaking up the
outside stairs from the alley through the doorway. Here's and
I were forever looking for adventures, and daily we rode
our bicycles in search of them. Heirs did not name
his bike, but I named by Nicki Listy, after my

(03:22):
high school local football hero. Summer days at our home
in Baytown, Texas was deviloushly hot and humid. Bike riding
while looking for adventures was an exhausting job and left
us needing many many cherry phosphates. One summer day, after

(03:43):
dining down in drinks at Scarborough's soda fountain, Here's and
I walked back through the drug store iles we enjoyed
looking at Yo Yo's baseball cards and an occasional racy magazine.
We didn't see mister Scarborough walk up behind us. Drew
to you and Gary Joe, now that was Harry's real name.

(04:07):
Drew to you and Harryiry Joe and Gary Joe want
to make a delivery for me. I'll give you each
a half a dollar, sure, mister Scarborough, I said, Now
I want you boys to deliver these two bags to Roxy.
She's expecting a delivery. Heirs and I looked at each other,

(04:30):
both wanting to explode with excitement. Come on, heres, let's
go to Roxies, I said. The bags fit snugly into
the baskets on our handlebars, and off we rolled. Roxyes
was three store three short blocks from the drug store,
and we covered the trip in a heartbeat. This was

(04:53):
going to be a life changing adventure. I knew it.
Down the alley to the long expanse of stairs we went.
It looked like a mile up those stairs to the
landing and the mysterious door on the second floor. Hairs,
you go first, I said, No, Drew, Drew, you're the biggest,

(05:14):
you go first. No, Pairs, you're the oldest. You go.
As we argued at the foot of the stairs, we
did not notice that the door opened and a woman
came out on the landing. Are you my delivery boys,
She asked, yes, ma'am, we are. I replied, well, get

(05:35):
up here, the girls are waiting for you. She said,
Oh my god. Hairs and I fought and bushed each other,
trying to be the first on the landing and end
of the doorway. The women were now inside and waiting
for us. I entered first, with Hairs pressed up against
my back. We were both breathing so hard. But it

(05:56):
wasn't from the bike ride, I can assure you. The
room was dip, dimly lit, and with overstuffed sofas lining
the walls. There were lamps with red shades on the
side tables. The room smelled a little like church, mixed
with the Apache lounge perfume, cigarettes and liquor. You can

(06:19):
put those bags down here if you want to, the
woman who must have been Roxy said. She wore a
purple housecoat with bright red slippers. The other women had
on sheer tops and scanty bottoms. My only exposure to
a scene like that appeared on a stolen glips of
a glossy page in a magazine. Hairs and I nervously

(06:43):
put the bags on the floor. Get the small bags out,
and give them to the girls whose name is on it.
The woman said, Hairs and I reached into the bag
and reboove the smaller bags one at a time. We
read the names and amounts old one by one. The
girls that gave up to us, taking their bags slowly

(07:04):
and removing cash from fatigue between their glowing breasts. Read
that in a book somewhere. I guess each dollar was
warm and fragrant. You know, I don't remember the breathing
the whole time, but I know I did. Now, you
boys take this back to Harold, this money and thank

(07:26):
him for the cheeseburgers and douche. Roxy said, you know,
I don't know what douche was. I asked myself there,
but if it was good as them cheeseburgers, I wanted one, Well,
here's and I went down the taggers not believe in
what we had just seen and done. We can't tell

(07:48):
anybody about this, hairs, it's our secret. They didn't look
or smell anything like Mama. He finished that mine either,
I thought, money delivered and winks from mister Scarboroughs and
is on her way back on her bicycles at home.
Mom es drug you have fun today, And I replied,

(08:10):
not much, Mom, it was you know, it was just okay, Well, chilly,
sign it off, peace, chill out and please watch those
intersections idios