It's Summer time in Brooklyn and it just doesn't feel right. Checked a thread and someone mentioned "Quarter Waters" and it brought me back.
Yall 70's & 80's babies will appreciate this.
Quarter Water - An Old Brooklyn Short Story
A New York Summer day with the wind blowing a teasing warm air, definitely not pleasurable enough to cool you off as the hot sun is baking the cracked concrete of Brooklyn. Yes Brooklyn, Old(or Ole depending on how fancy you are) Brooklyn, not even a dream of a Basketball stadium or overarching gentrification exists yet, and the African American, Caribbean American & African culture warmly blanketing the Borough in such a way, where traveling block to block makes you feel like you should have a passport handy. But you don't, all you have is a faulty beeper, a token & a few quarters.
Your ears light up & come alive when a honda civic stops at a light, its window down, but the air conditioner still on, the driver hot & cool all at the same time. Playing from the speakers is a symphony of beats & voices, a song that makes you feel..like New York. "Whooo oooo oooo, ooo, If I Ruled the World". You stop, instantly feeling how special the sound is to your ears, before it continues its play through, a bomb is dropped and a music magician, Funk Master Flex replays it 2 more times, all before the 57 second stop light that the Honda Civic is stopped at, but still creeping into the intersection, leaving you wondering what it is the driver is rushing to. A barbecue? A fly shorty in Bed Stuy? Or just trying to finish up his errands that his mother let him borrow the car for. Who knows, as you repeat the words beautifully uttered by Lauryn Hill & Nas, you feel your throat parched.
Not a city park near & the heat baking down onto your fitted, you walk into the corner store. Greeted by the tease of an air conditioner, you quickly realize its not on but nobody seems to notice. You step over a brown dusty cat that seems to own the bodega & you walk past the water bottles, you walk past the soda & grab the best beverage that your 25 cents could grant you. You grab a quarter water.
As you walk back out into the broiler pan that is Nostrand Ave, you use your pinky finger to pierce the seal covering this red concoction. As you place the beverage to your mouth, throat in dire need, you close yoru eyes. Nothing but water, sugar & food color, as it hits your palette, the taste is nothing short of magnificent. And as you keep your eyes closed to savor this unique taste, the Honda Civic pulls away w/ Nas & Lauryn Hill's voices going into the distance with it. Not knowing, that that taste will one day be gone forever, just like you Old Brooklyn because what is now for sale is not the beverage but it is Brooklyn itself. For sale.
fukk Gentrification.
Yall 70's & 80's babies will appreciate this.
Quarter Water - An Old Brooklyn Short Story
A New York Summer day with the wind blowing a teasing warm air, definitely not pleasurable enough to cool you off as the hot sun is baking the cracked concrete of Brooklyn. Yes Brooklyn, Old(or Ole depending on how fancy you are) Brooklyn, not even a dream of a Basketball stadium or overarching gentrification exists yet, and the African American, Caribbean American & African culture warmly blanketing the Borough in such a way, where traveling block to block makes you feel like you should have a passport handy. But you don't, all you have is a faulty beeper, a token & a few quarters.
Your ears light up & come alive when a honda civic stops at a light, its window down, but the air conditioner still on, the driver hot & cool all at the same time. Playing from the speakers is a symphony of beats & voices, a song that makes you feel..like New York. "Whooo oooo oooo, ooo, If I Ruled the World". You stop, instantly feeling how special the sound is to your ears, before it continues its play through, a bomb is dropped and a music magician, Funk Master Flex replays it 2 more times, all before the 57 second stop light that the Honda Civic is stopped at, but still creeping into the intersection, leaving you wondering what it is the driver is rushing to. A barbecue? A fly shorty in Bed Stuy? Or just trying to finish up his errands that his mother let him borrow the car for. Who knows, as you repeat the words beautifully uttered by Lauryn Hill & Nas, you feel your throat parched.
Not a city park near & the heat baking down onto your fitted, you walk into the corner store. Greeted by the tease of an air conditioner, you quickly realize its not on but nobody seems to notice. You step over a brown dusty cat that seems to own the bodega & you walk past the water bottles, you walk past the soda & grab the best beverage that your 25 cents could grant you. You grab a quarter water.
As you walk back out into the broiler pan that is Nostrand Ave, you use your pinky finger to pierce the seal covering this red concoction. As you place the beverage to your mouth, throat in dire need, you close yoru eyes. Nothing but water, sugar & food color, as it hits your palette, the taste is nothing short of magnificent. And as you keep your eyes closed to savor this unique taste, the Honda Civic pulls away w/ Nas & Lauryn Hill's voices going into the distance with it. Not knowing, that that taste will one day be gone forever, just like you Old Brooklyn because what is now for sale is not the beverage but it is Brooklyn itself. For sale.
fukk Gentrification.
