The exact time I don't recall. It probably preceeds my memory. The first I remember is going uptown to the little restaurant/soda fountain. They made the drinks right there and you could order them however you wanted. They had all kinds of syrups to put in the Coke mix. If you were really brave, you would order a suicide Coke with all of the different syrups mixed in to it. It was really disgusting if you can imagine--cherry, vanilla, lime, lemon, chocolate and raspberry---all mixed together with the Coke syrup and carbonated water. We were young and stupid and thought they were great. I preferred the vanilla or cherry alone. We would get the money by picking up deposit bottles and returning them to the grocery store. The cokes were only a dime and the deposit was two cents on each bottle. That was one way we spent our time during the summer. During the winter, we didn't have time since it would be dark shortly after we got back from school.
Every Friday our parents went to Kankakee to get groceries and one carton of RC Cola. We would each get one bottle and we had better drink it right away or hide it or we wouldn't get to taste it. One of us thought he/she was entitled to more than one.
It was a treat but not as big a treat as going to the rootbeer stand on a hot afternoon. We would all load into the car and drive to the A&W rootbeer stand and Dad would order each of us a mug. The mugs were huge and frosted so the rootbeer was extremely cold with a lot of foam on top. I enjoyed the foam most then and still do although I can't get the same thrill from it now that I can get it whenever I want. The same with soda. It is not such a thrill when you don't have to do anything special to get one. The poor children now will never have the thrill of earning the money for a small coke at the soda fountain and summoning up the courage to order "The Suicide".
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