Summertime was always so perfect. Its long hot days meant swimming, cartoons, and quesadillas. Eating popcorn on the hammock, reading and swaying, reading and swaying.

Summer meant climbing over the back gate and into the babysitter’s yard every morning with two baby sisters in tow. Summer meant big and little kids alike were relegated to the cool basement to play while Annie watched her morning soaps. Summer meant everything to Sophia, except for having to hang out with boys all day every day.

On a relatively cool July day in 1997, Sophia sat at Annie’s kitchen table with Brendan and Bobby, her fellow big kids. Sophia took the first good look around the room that she had ever taken. The dark paneled walls were lined with small twigs of twinkling lights. There was a large cauldron in the corner of the room and she had the vague feeling that maybe Annie was a witch.

They were so excited that they were finally deemed big enough at ten years old to sit upstairs while Annie watched her stories that they started turning up their noses at things like the temptation to play with the powdered sugar in the pantry or coloring with the nubs of the crayons in the art box, in order to take on what they observed to be the affectations of adulthood.

Sophia, the lone big girl of the group, began playing mommy to the little ones and second-hand to Annie by assisting with potty time (mostly for her two baby sisters, Violet and Clara), bringing the little ones juice and cookies, and telling them what to do which was her favorite part. Brendan and Bobby watched, arms crossed, with the miniature stern expressions on their faces that their fathers wore around them.

But as with all adult things, Sophia, Brendan, and Bobby soon tired of their grown up business and started getting that itching feeling all kids in the summertime get to go outside. The wide oak tree called to them from the kitchen window, peeked in at them through the skylight. The light summer winds tapped its branches on the siding, beckoning them to join the outside world.

They pleaded and begged to go outside, though the greying skies threatened summer storms on the horizon. They promised they’d come back inside AS SOON AS they felt raindrops, no exceptions. Annie, draped in a flowing mauve sun dress, sighed and relented, seeing in their eyes that they desperately needed to expel some energy and thinking it would be safest (for her delicate household objects) to do so outside where they could run wild.

Annie had almost no yard to speak of, but what she lacked in yard, she made up for in driveway. It was long, so long that the children considered it never-ending when they looked at its expanse from the handles of their Big Wheels. It was black and always a little slick. The oak tree provided just enough shade that the morning mist took eons to burn away in the heat, leaving an eternal coolness in the air and slickness on the pavement that meant their bikes could travel at top speeds, rounding corners as if they were driving in a Grand Prix.

They ran outside, little kids in tow. Annie gave the little ones sidewalk chalk and sat in a small wooden chair to read a leather bound book as she watched over the children. Sophia, Brendan, and Bobby ran into the open garage, racing each other for the coveted Best Big Wheel of Them All. Some other kid Annie had babysat grew out of it and his mom donated it to the summer kids. And it was beautiful. Red and yellow, it flashed like fireworks when accelerating down the driveway; and Sophia always swore it brought luck to whoever rode it. She got their first and she waved her hands in the air, twirling around, hopping from foot to foot doing a victory dance. The boys had beaten her to the Big Wheel every day for the past two weeks and everything had gone their way since then. It was about time she got a turn.

They raced. Sophia stopped, gazing at the iron Medusa face affixed to the chimney. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it before and the fierceness in her eyes drew her in.

Bobby turned around when he got to the finish line where Brendan had been standing to proclaim a winner.

Brendan yelled, “You lose! You lose! Bobby wins. La-hoo-oo-OOO-ser!” in his best Jim Carrey impression.

“Hey! It’s no fun if you’re not gonna ride with us!” Bobby yelled as he stood and bent over, talking with his butt as he’d seen Carrey do in Ace Ventura the thousands of times he had watched it on VHS at home.

Sophia looked over at the boys, finding it difficult to tear her eyes away from the Medusa. She said, “Nuh-uh, I don’t lose. It’s called forfeiting on account of I have a new idea for a game.”

“Ex-cu-ooo-OOO-se ME!” said Brendan, “What kinda game? I wanna race too, ya know.”

She pushed the hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand, imagining it was made of snakes. “See this lady on the chimney? She’s like the McDonald’s drive-through window height from the Big Wheel.”

“So?” asked the boys in unison.

“So, we can play drive-through, except we don’t ask for Happy Meals.”

Bobby didn’t get it, “Well if we don’t ask for Happy Meals, then what are we asking for?”

“Your BUTT!” Brendan snickered.

“No, no, no, we drive up and order anything we want. And then we go to the end of the driveway, turn around, and come back and get it.”

“I’m gonna order a ninja!” said Bobby.

“I’m gonna order CHICKEN NUGGETS OH YEA!!!!” yelled Brendan.

“I’m gonna order snake hair and the power to turn you to stone with my eyeballs,” said Sophia.

The boys looked at each other and shrugged. They didn’t really know what a Medusa was because they didn’t read the Greek mythology flashcards that Sophia’s dad gave her that spring.

They went ahead with the Magic McDonald’s game. Bobby went around once and ordered a ninja. Brendan went around once and ordered chicken nuggets. Sophia went around once and ordered snake hair.

While they were playing, Annie went inside and cooked lunch. When she came back out, she was dressed in a black long sleeved shirt and black pants with a black mask over her face. She was carrying their food. She was walking down the back porch steps as Bobby and Brendan were approaching the chimney. Bobby saw his ninja and Brendan saw his nuggets. They ran off of their bikes, yelling, “HEY! MAGIC MCDONALD’S WORKS! LOOK, SOPHIA, LOOK!”

They turned to look at her and froze mid-bite. She had snakes in her hair. The magic worked alright. She laughed and ate their nuggets. Summertime was always so perfect.