"Did you marry the girl?"
That reminds me, how could I forget! One of my peers bussed at the Copper Beach and made awesome tips. He owned a red CJ5 with a white fiberglass top on it. He came from a family that had a little bit of money and instilled in him their very strong work ethic. He had to dress very formally in a white waist coat, black trousers and patent leather shoes.
The two of us outfitted the CJ with an elaborate Pioneer stereo that had a receiver, cassette deck with all the bias options for the various tape formulations at the time, everyone was very fond of TDK SA then. We also included a separate graphic equalizer and three-way Pioneer speakers that were mounted on the rear decks that covered the wheel wells. I don't remember if we did this at the hifi store that was in Old Saybrook or we went to New Haven but I'm sure we did car fog and guzzled good beer there and back. Probably Becks or Heineken. That stereo was later stolen when he parked it outside a venue to see a concert in Hartford or New Haven. It was literally ripped out! I'm not sure but I think he might of been able to recover most of just as a matter of circumstance because of good timing and working with the local police.
Then there was my buddy Steve who owned a 73 Roadrunner with a 383 with a Holly four barrel under the hood that had swivel bucket seats and a three-speed slap stick automatic.
I think everyone I associated with the was on the ball then. Myself I worked at the Lyme Light restaurant after school because I could walk there. I bussed tubs dishes from under the counters in the dining area and machine washed them and replenished the stacks for the cooks. I also scrubbed toilets and shredded cabbage and carrots that I mixed with salad dressing from gallon jugs, also peeled and boiled potatoes for home fries. Luckily, I had free access to anything in the steam table and I could have the cooks grill me a burger or I could make myself a sandwich from any of the ingredients available in the kitchen and the waitresses would bring an odd sized piece of pie that they couldn't sell to the patrons.
With the money I made I could indulge in one or two school lunches, cigarettes, booze and occasionally a nickel bag of pot. Everyone I hung around with usually had a plentiful supply dope of their own though and were always willing to share except for the dry periods that would arise in the area for one reason or another. I also began to fill out to the proper weight for the height and stature for a kid my age. Toni and Bob, the owners who were always on sight and their daughters who also waitressed were very kind to me. Oh yeah, there was their daughter Denise who was my age drove her own Honda Civic CVCC that we would cruse the back roads of Haddam and shift the four speed into neutral and do roller-coaster rides on the hills. Fun days!