Our World-All in One Place

 by Charlotte Bennardo

The setting: our teen hangouts...

Photo by Helena Jankovičová Kováčová: https://www.pexels.com/photo/commercial-parking-lot-with-modern-cars-30845615/

Yep, the parking lot of the one major strip mall we had in town. (Above picture is not it). Why? Because I grew up on the eastern end of Long Island, and at that time, there were more farm fields than anything else. We were the first class to graduate 100 seniors in a school that went from kindergarten to senior high in one school, except for fourth graders who went to a small nearby school. One elementary school was actually a one-room schoolhouse. 

Back to the strip mall. It had the movie theater, the best pizza place, a small department store, the grocery store, liquor store (not that we could get anything), and lots of space for everyone to park and meet up. The motorheads showed off their cars, the townies hit the bowling alley across the street, and people like me walked to the Dairy Queen the next lot over. The routine was we met up there, a la  American Graffiti, found out who was doing what, then split up: some to the movie theater, some to Bailey's Beach to have a bonfire and share an illicit beer, those on dates went to the pizza place, and some headed to other towns, like maybe Southampton where huge dance clubs like OBI East rocked us. 

Things have changed now, but the setting is still vivid in my memory. If I wrote a novel set in a 1970s small town, this would be my inspiration. Imagine twisty, hilly roads between farm fields and woods, lit only by faint stars in the black night sky. Smell the cauliflower and fertilizer in the fields, then the salt air as you neared Long Island Sound or Peconic Bay, maybe Orient Point. Listen to waves crashing on the shore, the roar of cars racing on the North Road, or yells from the adult softball league games on the field at the Mattituck Yacht Club. The best tastes in town were the strawberry shortcakes during the Strawberry Festival, or the Fried Chicken Dinner at the Cutchogue Fire Department fundraiser that even Martha Stewart couldn't resist, or the sausages at the Polish Festival in Riverhead. The best feeling is the sand sliding through your toes at one of the Hampton beaches, or a wind freshening off the ocean as your sailboat bobs on the water or the smooth ice under your skates as you glide on Wolf Pit Pond. 

We started at the parking lot, and then like dandelion seeds, dispersed to find our adventures. 

Charlotte is busy promoting her new YA fantasy, The Excalibur Vow, and thinking about the sequel people have been asking for. She writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels and short stories in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, horror, paranormal, and romance genres. She is the author of the award-winning middle grade Evolution Revolution trilogy: Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She co-authored the YA novels Blonde OPS, Sirenz, and Sirenz Back in Fashion. She has several short stories in anthologies, online, and her website, along with newspaper and magazine articles. Having finished her MFA, she's applying what she learned, and is working on several children's and adult novels and short stories. She lives in NJ but dreams of a Caribbean beach house. And more cats.