The Summer of '76
by Theresa C. Newbill, in collaboration with Allex I Spires © 2007
Heat unfolded over the New York neighborhood of Washington Heights in the summer of seventy-six driving my Puerto Rican neighbors and myself from our non-air-conditioned homes, away from Chico and the Man on teevy, and into the streets. Tienda Boricua was blasting salsa music that got all those people dancing, all of them but me. I stood uneasily among a mist of swirling hips, and spinning bodies.
A dark brown version of Freddie Prinze stepped through the crowd and offered me a cup of rum.
"How does it taste?" he asked.
"Bittersweet, like first love."
We danced.
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