THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210184
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
Thursday, July 13
1:15 p.m. - The Discovery yacht.
Bootsie Guess, Irene Sutton, Sally Hope, Mary Lee Gilliard and Mary West are sailing aboard the Discovery for the first time. The retired C&P Telephone employees, who meet once a month for lunch, are having a grand old time reminiscing.
Guess, the self-proclaimed ``party girl'' of the bunch, says she used to have fun with her name when customers called.
``I'd answer the phone and they would ask what my name was,'' says Guess with a throaty laugh. ``I would say Guess! And they would say `What?'
``I tap danced on the supervisor's desk on my last day,'' she adds, as her yachtmates laugh.
Irene Sutton recalls that she felt like a queen on her last day.
``The day I retired my daughter hired a limo to pick me up and take me to work,'' she says. ``I couldn't believe it - I had never been in one before.''
The women make occasional comments about the magnificent estates they sail past but are more interested in socializing with each other. They talk about retirement, their grandchildren, current events, everything. One of the subjects is motherhood and working. All were full-time working mothers back when it wasn't popular or as necessary as today.
``I didn't have a choice - I had to work,'' says Sutton. ``And that was when employers didn't give you time off if you had a sick child.
``My son keeps looking for flaws in himself because I worked,'' she adds, chuckling. ``But he turned out OK.''
- Pam Starr
10:30 p.m. - A home in Windsor Woods.
A family has waited patiently for 45 minutes for a large pepperoni pizza to arrive.
Finally, the doorbell rings.
A young boy answers and takes two piping hot pizzas from the delivery man who apologizes for being late.
The transaction is over and the youngster rushes to the dining room to ready the pies for consumption.
Just before the first bite is taken, the doorbell rings.
It's the delivery man again.
``Uh, I need those two pizzas back,'' he says. ``I gave you the wrong ones.
``I also need those packets of cheese back,'' he adds, pointing to seven or eight packets of Parmesan cheese he had just given to the youngster.
An adult, hearing the exchange between the boy and delivery man, says in a loud voice, ``He's lucky we didn't eat any yet. Otherwise, he'd only be getting the crust back.''
- Lori A. Denney
Friday, July 14
10:30 a.m. - Stoney's produce market, First Colonial Road.
``He's got a bone. A great big bone in his mouth,'' a youngster informs her mom.
Mom nods absent-mindedly. Then she takes a better look at the big, black Lab slowly skulking to a cool place under a table of melons.
That's no pork chop clamped between his canines; it's an ear of tender white corn. And under that same table, already strewn with husks, cobs and silk, the in-residence pooch methodically peels back the veggie and with paws at each end of the ear tenderly nibbles from side to side.
``He just loves corn, he begs for it,'' one of the employees answers the gathering onlookers.
- Marlene Ford
Saturday, July 15
12:15 p.m. - Back Bay Blueberries on Gum Bridge Road.
It's a hot day - a seriously hot day. Although the blueberries are ripe and sweet as sugar, not many people are braving the 100-plus temperature to pick them.
A few folks are scattered along the long rows of bushes plopping berries into their plastic buckets; most are red-faced and sweating profusely.
Some people have given up. Too hot.
One man is sitting in his car with the windows closed, air conditioning blowing full force while the rest of his party finishes picking. Another man has taken refuge under the shade of the weighing shed while waiting for his family.
As more heat-blasted pickers trudge slowly to the shed - their pails brimming with fruit - the girl who is working the stand has a surprise for them.
Plunging her arm into a tall, round drink cooler filled with water and ice, she lifts out two dripping terry cloth towels.
``Here you go,'' she says cheerfully handing an icy towel to each. ``Enjoy.''
- Melinda Forbes
5:45 p.m. - Villas of Glenwood.
A power failure hits at 4 p.m., shutting down air conditioners, ceiling fans, refrigerators - any electrical cooling system. No television, computer or lights, either. A husband and wife are trying to keep cool by sitting in a darkened bedroom with the blinds drawn, mopping their faces with wet wash cloths. Their pug is lying on the kitchen vinyl panting furiously, a container of ice water next to her.
The husband calls Virginia Power several times, only to get a recording that says ``power should be back on by 6:45.''
``Maybe we should drive up to Pembroke Mall and sit there,'' he says, looking at his five-months-pregnant wife with concern. ``This heat isn't good for you.''
She shrugs her shoulders.
``Yeah, but it's 100 degrees in the shade,'' she says. ``And the car is sweltering. We might as well just stay here. I'll be fine.''
They stay put, moving as little as possible.
``You know, it's kind of scary to think about how dependent we are on electricity,'' the wife says. ``What did they do in the old days?''
Finally, at exactly 6:42 p.m., the power surges back on. Life is back to normal.
- Pam Starr
Monday, July 17
8:30 a.m. - Across the Bay-Bridge Tunnel.
Green tomatoes everywhere. On the straight strip of Route 13 fresh, firm green tomatoes lie strewn along the shoulder of the road. Not just a few, but bushels of errant fruit thrown from a produce truck decorate the Ocean Highway like a green grocer's shelves.
By dusk most are retrieved. But the ones that remain, after the 90-degree day on the asphalt, are now the Southern favorite - fried green tomatoes.
- Marlene Ford
Wednesday, July 19
8:36 a.m. - Hardee's on Independence Boulevard.
A bumper sticker on a black Ford Explorer: ``My kid and my money go to Campbell University.''
- Lori A. Denney ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
A charitable business
As a car pulls up, Andrew Patterson, left, and Michael Hill go into
a sales pitch for their lemonade stand in Point-O-Woods on a very
hot Friday. The enterprising pair donates the proceeds to the
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
by CNB