Saturday was always a big day for us kids back in the 40s. We not only had to finish our chores on that day which could have included killing a chicken or a duck or a rabbit for dinner. I can still hear my old friend Sonny's mom yelling out the kitchen window as we were playing with the Nicholson Tractor, "Sonny I need you to kill a chicken for dinner." "Oh Mom," he would cry out, "do I have to?"
  Us kids knew if we wanted to eat that's what we had to do, whether we liked the chore or not. I always thought it was better than chopping wood for the fire place, or beating the dirty carpet slung over the clothes line with that heavy wire paddle that left blisters all over the palm of your hands and fingers, not to mention about the terrible dust and sand that was blown into your face when the wind shifted. Do you remember those times?
  When everything went well we might get a chance to go to the movies at night, and this was the night! After dinner Sonny's dad Joel came outside as we were chatting how much we hated to kill chickens and what other possible better way to do it. We never did figure out a better way to do that vile job.
  Joel asked, "How would you kids like to go to the movies tonight?" We all yelled out a big "hooray, Let's go!" There were six of us around the house that warm summer evening and we sure got excited about driving into Lakeside to the movies. We were closer to El Cajon, but their movie house recently burned to the ground because of rats eating into the electrical wiring. They had outdoor movies in a roped off area on Friday night against an old wall left standing from the fire on the corner of Magnolia and Douglas Streets. That was a lot of fun because the movies had sing alongs and we kept in time by the bouncing ball.
  I ran home grabbed some of my hard earned  allowance money  and waited for them to pick me up on the way to Lakeside. Here they came over the rise in Joel's old 1936 Ford one-ton flat bed truck with the whining transmission that  had to be double clutched to shift gears. I jumped aboard as they barely stopped, then picking up speed as they chugged off North onto 2nd

Street as the evening began to cool off.
  What an exciting ride, since the flat bed only had side boards and the back was open so some of us  could ride sitting  with our feet dangling over the back of the flatbed. I was glad my mom couldn't see me doing that! I remember there may have been one or two cars all the way from Bostonia to the Lakeside Theater. That would have been heavy traffic after 5 PM.
  Joel parked the truck, we  jumped off, ran in and bought our tickets. We went inside after buying pop corn and found us a seat.  It didn't take us long to realize everyone there seemed to either be related or knew each other very well. Before the show started  kids were throwing pop corn at each other, some girl got on the stage doing a little shadow act of her own as the projectionist was reeling on the film. We all threw pop corn at her too. All of a sudden I felt something brush against my leg. Someone was crawling on the floor from one place to another.
  Finally the show began. I cannot remember what the movie was about, but I do remember something again brushing across my foot. I thought it was a cat, but someone said it was probably a rat after the pop corn! I felt better after the show was over and relieved when the lights came on. We had a real fun ride back home after a busy Saturday in East County.
  On the way home all the stars in the sky were out in full concert with each other. I was totally exhausted and  I don't remember seeing more than a few cars on the road.  In those days after 5:00 PM everyone was home and since this was a Saturday night the Grand Ol' Opry would be on the radio with Little Jimmy Dickens, Grandpa Jones, String Bean, Minnie Pearl,  Bill Monroe and many other great old timers with their music and funny front porch stories. You can smell the apple pie thinking about those good old days and those grand memories we can share today.

  This is a painless way to help raise funds for our community park. Vons Supermarket has offered to donate a portion of every dollar spent at their stores throughout the USA.  To register give the Conservancy your Vons Club Card number. They will register you and then every time you shop at Vons and use your Club Card a 4% donation will automatically be made by the corporation. Call the project manager, Robin Rierdon, for details or to sign up at 619-448-1779.