I enjoyed Wayne’s World on Saturday Night Live the first times I saw it (for those not familiar with the sketch series see here). A friend at the time was incredulous that I would find such juvenile humor entertaining. But she missed the point entirely. The brilliance of the numerous skits was the accuracy of how they captured the sophomoric humor and thinking of many high school boys. The simple inane things that would be incredibly funny to them. Of course not every high school student finds the types of anecdotes on the show entertaining. Many are not ridden with an unsophisiticated sense of humor. Unfortuanatley, I was not immune to the plague.
At the time I was enrolled in the university we frequented the same all nite deli near our dormitory. There was one particular cashier who had a very distinctive accent and in a characteristic fashion would drop the “v” sound in five to become “fi” and drop the “f” sound in “fifty” to become “fit-ty.” So we lived for purchases that had 5 or 50 in the total. Of course a dream total was anything that ended in 55, becoming our beloved “fit-ty fi” - a total of $1.55 for example was enough cause for jubilation. It had the feel of roulette - place our bets (items) on the counter and wait for the wheel to stop spinning and see if we our numbers came up. We won a single 5 or 50 often - the perfect game for impetuous youth. We were realists and we never aspired for a dream total like $5.55 - the odds here were quite poor and we rarely spent that much. Better to hope for a 5, 50 or 55.
It has been a very long time since this even entered my mind and I am proud to state that my sense of humor has become more sophisticated. But recently at dinner, the total was stunning that I could not help but think that this was the ne plus ultra of my youthful dreams. The unattainable. A total so perfect, we dared not think or speak it, less we live in perpetual disappointment and frustration. I had to recount this tale of course to my fellow dinner companions so they could fully appreciate the miracle that lay before us - a bill for $55.55
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