Out of pure laziness to not bend over and slip on my sandals, the other afternoon, I decided to walk outside and check the mail while barefoot. Our thermometer showed 109. Knowing that asphalt is a killer in this heat, concrete didn’t seem like it’d be as hot. I made it to the mailbox with no problem yet the return trip had me dancing.
A 1966 song by Robert Parker, “Barefootin’” is about dancing without shoes and socks, yet there’s no mention of it being performed on hot blacktop or concrete. In my younger days, my brother and I often went barefooted in Alabama and Texas, being smart enough to avoid pavement.
I can’t remember us incurring any major problems other than sticker briars. After a summer of going shoeless, feet developed thick callouses that somewhat protected them.
A third-grade class photo I have shows a schoolmate of mine without shoes. I’m sure had Dad and Mom allowed me, I would’ve been barefoot in that picture as well. I view folks at Rotary Beach here in town shoeless or sandal-less all the time, with smoking hot sand being hard for me to take. Everyone must have a different pain threshold, with flip-flops being our saving grace when visiting beaches in Alabama or Florida.
The Arizona town of Salome has a slogan, “Where She Danced.” Many visitors to this small oasis in the desert inquire as to its meaning. There are two explanations. Supposedly, the newly arrived wife of Charles Pratt, co-founder of the town, Grace Salome Pratt, after first removing shoes during summer to try walking barefooted on desert sand, ended up dancing instead.
The second reason has to do with a 1945 movie called, “Salome, Where She Danced,” starring Yvonne DeCarlo. The famous actress plays the part of Anna Maria, a ballerina who escapes Europe during The Austrian-Prussian War after being accused there as a spy.
Immigrating to America, she hooks up with another long-retired dancer, Madame Europe. They’re set to dance together for the first time in a small western town called Drinkman Wells, in a musical play called, “Salome, Where She Danced. The town name is soon changed to Salome, to appease Anna Maria.
The actors and townspeople are robbed by a band of outlaws as the dancing begins, with Anna Maria taken hostage. I watched this movie for free on YouTube and found it somewhat entertaining, yet no scenes were filmed in Salome which would’ve made it better. Yvonne DeCarlo was quite a hottie in this film, unlike the character she played in “The Munsters” as Herman Munster’s wife, Lily.
If the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (Siskel and Ebert) were still rating movies, they’d undoubtedly give the film two thumbs down for plot. It’s highly possible that writer, Laurence Stallings, came up with the screenplay name after visiting Salome.
On a negative side to barefootin’, I see people in town from time to time walking their dogs on hot asphalt in summer, with the poor animals dancing like I had to. A slow form of torturing these pets, I want to say something to the pet owners, yet know that any remark from me won’t help the suffering canines.
Pet owners like that are, unfortunately, a little dense upstairs, with their excuse being, “Well it has to walk and do its business somewhere!” Walking a dog on burning asphalt during summer in this town or any other proximity is never a valid excuse.
Just today, a fellow was out in front of Walmart soliciting money, while his dog lay on hot concrete with its tongue hanging out. My car thermometer read 106. Using crutches or a walker as a prop to garner sympathy is one thing, but bringing along an animal to do the same shows a callous individual. A few snowflakes might say I’m being judgmental here, but I see it as simply being observant.
I’ve had a couple of dogs in Havasu, finding that paw protectors, when soaked with a portable spray bottle full of water help considerably. I sprayed their fur down as well. Of course, having that important cell phone in one hand and a leash in the other makes that impossible for some pet owners.
As our two Pekingese got older and couldn’t take the heat anymore, they weren’t too old to train. I taught them both to do their business in the garage on a pee pad. A little Clorox bleach and water helped clean up any spillage.
Children are much like pets in some ways. Neither have any say in what parents or caretakers they’ll end up with. Some were dealt a good hand while others ended up on the losing end of the stick. Hopefully, my wife and I are deemed by our kids and departed pets as being good stewards where taking care of them is concerned.
One thing’s for sure, we never forced them to go barefootin’ on sizzlin’ hot pavement or locked our kids in a hot car. It doesn’t take a Harvard or Yale scholar to know that these inexcusable acts have serious and sometimes irreversible consequences.
I like to write junk... 