Summer 2019 - Midnight Magic in Breckenridge

by Nathan Stout  (of AccordingToWhim.com)

Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas I had a best friend named Lance. Lance and I grew up together because our moms were besties. At around the age 13 Lance and family moved to Breckenridge, Texas. Since this as about a 2 hours west of Fort Worth our visits became a summertime thing. Traveling 2 hours nowadays is no big deal, back in the 80’s (and to a kid) a 2 hour trip was akin to 10 hours or something.

During the summer I would get shipped off to Lance’s for 2 or 3 weeks. Our families would either meet halfway to hand me off or I even got to go via Greyhound once. They lived in the country in a heavily wooded property complete with creeks, abandoned cars, and the remains of barns and buildings. This was a kid dreamland. We were left to our own devices during endless weeks. Our day would start with daytime game shows, cooking shows on PBS, and some soap operas (why soap operas... IDK). We would then do various dangerous projects such as clearing out abandoned farm buildings and converting them into our own putt-putt courses, playing inside half rusted cars, and walking across water pipes above deadly-green colored creeks (did I mention rattlesnakes abounded).

We did other not so dangerous yet, summertime activities such as tadpole growing, sprinkler fun, and 4^th of July fireworks. Well, lighting bottle rockets and throwing them up in the air just before they launch was somewhat dangerous.

In the evenings we would devote our free time to playing all over the house, watching movies and playing Atari 2600. Midnight Madness was our go-to movie for those hot summer nights. The story of a bunch of misfits on a city-wide scavenger hunt for an ultimate prize. What am I saying… of course you know that movie. As fate would have it we also had Midnite Magic, the Atari 2600 pinball game. Every time we played we had to sing the Midnight Madness tune to Midnite Magic. It’s amazing to me what entertained our generation and what entertains current generations. That game so so simplistic but it held our attention for hours. Not one explosion, sex scene, or decapitation in sight.

Did I mention we pretended to do our own cooking shows too? I guess with the hours and hours of watching the Cajun Chef, Frugal Gourmet, and Julia Childs we couldn't resist. See, kids are impressionable and will copy what they see off of the evil TV!

Nathan Stout stupidly sold his full size Hook Pinball machine several years ago and regrets it to this day.