Hi-Boy 5

I was in the fourth grade when I became a burger princess. My father set himself up to own a Hi-Boy Drive In burger joint. It was Hi-Boy 5, the fifth one in the chain of restaurants mostly owned by Jerry Mackey of "The Steamboat Arabia" fame. Recognition with Hi-Boy started when my family was younger and lived on Hocker Street in Independence, my father worked at the Noland Road Hi-Boy. I remember the cool sit-down Pac-Man video game and being surrounded by older people (who were probably teenagers) as I showed off my counting skills. They teased me because when I would get to the last of the deca, I would say, "Niiiiiiiiiiiine!" as I searched my brain for the next number.

1985 was a nice time for my family. My littlest sister was born, the Royals won and Hi-Boy 5 was doing well. My mom worked at the counter and the drive thru. One time Ratt came through the drive thru and my mom brought home an autograph for me. I really liked that "Round and Round" song..."I'll tell you why!" The autograph said "To Andi, Rat -n- Roll! Love, Ratt." Unfortunately, my mom wasn't working the drive thru at the time and had to have someone else get the autograph for me. The girl who got my autograph had Ratt sign the carbon paper used to take food orders. She took the good copy. I still have my copy, but it's really worn and you can barely make anything out anymore.

In addition to being an employee, my mom did other things for Hi-Boy. She sewed these hilarious looking smocks for the girls' uniforms that kind of looked like red and white short 1960s dresses, except they really were more 1950s with sailor collars and enormous front pockets. We always had a whole gang of them lined up together, hanging by a cord in our basement. After years of roller skating and choreographed dances in the basement when we were little, an old friend later commented on those smocks. I really wish I could remember exactly what she thought they were...I think she thought they were identical dresses for the whole family.

In addition to the go-go dress Hi Boy clothing, our wardrobe was peppered with Hi-Boy Shirts and jackets. My mom, being the type of woman, who, after kids, stopped buying clothes for herself, could be seen quite frequently at softball games, 7-11, or the grocery store hawking Hi-Boy. One particular shirt, which was red with simple white lettering declaring Hi-Boy and a star for the dot over the "i", brought out the neighborliness in people. I can't tell you how many times I heard people saying, "Hi, boy!" to my mom. My dad wore his work clothes everywhere. Red collared button snap short sleeve shirt and black slacks. To this day I can not wear the red shirt, black pants combo. No one ever said "Hi, boy!" to him. He just looked like a guy who wore red and black.

My dad started off doing his work laundry at home. If you ever own a greasy burger joint don't ever use your personal laundry machine for greasy towels and aprons. The machines stunk and every so often I would have to fish a shriveled french fry out from our clean wet clothes. The other reason is that that much grease cannot be washed out in a regular laundry machine. My dad was always tying up the washer and dryer with his work towels and aprons. I was getting ready to spend the night somewhere and needed to fluff up some clothing. Again, his greasy towels were marinating in the dryer. I threw them out of the dryer onto a stuffed chair. When I came home the next day, there were remains of something burnt in the snow. Apparently, I nearly burned the house down. The stuffed chair had a perfect circle burn on the back rest. Luckily for us, a poor babysitter smelled the fumes and called the fire department. Thankfully, the lamented chair and my dad's beloved towels were the only victims.

We had a pride in Hi-Boy. We still do. The burgers are great and they have tater tots as a side choice. They have good shakes too. I remember when my dad got the new ice cream treat called "Cyclones". They are like Dairy Queen Blizzards or McDonald's McFlurries. My dad made the poster that listed the different flavors of Cyclones. A funny story about this is his continuous mistake in leaving off the first "er" of the Butterfinger flavor. He went through two poster boards and actually, he did it again on the third poster, but got so pissed off he refused to do it over and cut out a piece of poster board with the letters "er" and affixed it as neatly as possible between "Butt" and "finger".

Hi-Boy was also my first job. The day before I turned 16 my father let me know that I was working on my birthday. I was pissed, no doubt, not only because it was an important birthday, but also because I did not like my dad. He made me uncomfortable and he acted like he hated me.

I worked on my birthday. It was okay. I felt dirty and disgusting due to the stench of several years of greasiness. During my break, I looked at the schedule and noticed that it was made the month before and that I could have been notified earlier of my new job. It also showed that I was working a closing shift the next night, which was a Sunday. I couldn't believe my father would have me work a late shift when I had school the next morning.

Sunday morning, I came to him, which was really hard for me since I was scared to death of him, and asked if I could work a shorter shift or leave before closing so I could study for a test. I did have a test, but I admit, I never had to study, it was the principle of the thing that irked me. His reaction to this question solidified my reasoning for not wanting to ask him for anything ever again. He immediately screamed at me. I left the living room during his tirade and eventually yelled from my room that I quit. Enraged, he said that I couldn't quit the family business. I thought, yeah, real family business, he didn't even see his family, like he cared about family. I called a girl I was sort of friends with at the time to see if she could come get me. I only got a few words in to her before my dad barged in and stomped on the phone to hang it up, then he commenced to tell me just what he thought of me. I don't remember too much of what he said only that he said I was stupid. I do remember that while he was yelling like a child, I stared at him with a strange smirk and let his insults shower over my face like rays of the sun. At one point he told me to leave. Then he left my room with disgust and stomped into the living room. I had the phone receiver in my hand still and said, "hello?" The girl just said, "Oh my god, Andi!" I just asked her if she would please find some way to get me out of there. After I hung up, my dad decided he wasn't finished with me. I was packing a few things to take to wherever and he angrily came at me. I don't know if he was going to hit me, but I perceived it that way and I dodged him and said "don't hit me!" I ran to the back door where at the same time my mom was coming in to save me. There, at the slightly opened screened door, I was sandwiched between my mom and my dad giving hateful glaring looks to each other. I could feel the tension. My dad huffed off to the living room again and I went outside with my mom. I told her I was leaving and she pleaded with me to stay. I told her I couldn't. I left and didn't come back until a month or so later.

After staying with the girl that helped me with a ride for a couple days, my mom's friend and my godmother, asked me to stay with her for awhile and I did. When I came back home I didn't speak to my dad. A short while after, my mom and dad got a divorce. It wasn't until six months later that I talked to him, but it was just words, nothing about what had happened. He owned the Hi-Boy for a few more years after that, but then sold it.

There are still a few Hi-Boys out there, but most of them are gone. I can finally say that I'm no longer sad or angry about this scene from my life. I'm not even mad at my dad so much anymore. I even sent him a father's day card this year with a funny recollection from our past. He left a voicemail message after he received it and said he remembered the huge spider at Ken's house. I guess it's a start.

Image taken from Neato Coolville's Flicker page.