What a very strange suggestion! I am not pretending to be an ‘influencer’ nor would I get paid for using one brand of washing-up liquid*, eat one brand of chocolate or drive one sort of car.

So, I’m going to tell you about my sister and me doing something ‘wrong’ several times as young girls in their early teens!

We lived and went to school in Cincinnati, Ohio but our best friends were in Zanesville, Ohio (where we were born but moved away from when I was seven.) We always looked forward to the long summer holidays because we knew that we would be going from Cincinnati to Zanesville and would spend a large part of those months staying with my grandma Ethel in her wonderful home and would be able to spend lots of time with our friends.

I don’t remember what made us think of it – whether it was suggested by our friends or we thought of it first – but we decided it would be great to meet our friends after midnight and to wander around the streets of Zanesville in the dark.

The plan was to lie awake until we were sure all the ‘grown-ups’ were asleep, then to go downstairs and out the little window of the little powder room next to the front door and then to go back in the same way when we had had our adventure. Just in case we both fell asleep before it was time, Judy tied a string to her toe and dangled it out the bedroom window. If our friends came and we didn’t arrive, then they could wake us up by pulling on the string! I doubt if either of us fell asleep as we were so excited about doing something so daring!

It all went like clockwork! We left through the little window, met our mates, walked around and ended up on some steps at the side of the junior high school they went to. We sat and talked, smoked a cigarette and then decided that was enough for one night and went back to grandma’s house. We went in the way we had gone out and went back to bed.

A few days later we decided to go out again but this time early in the morning – around 5 am. One of the group, I think it was Barry, was a paper-boy, delivering newspapers to various house-holds in the area. We all went with him on his paper round, enjoying the early morning light and the quiet, car-free roads, talking quietly and just enjoying being with friends.

When we got back to grandma Ethel’s house we found that her cleaner, Louise had already arrived and was in the kitchen washing a pan or something. Luckily, Louise was very old and very deaf and she didn’t hear us come in. A few minutes later, we walked into the kitchen to have our breakfast. Louise was surprised to see us so early as we usually slept late.

Okay, it was naughty of us (and probably very stupid) – but so innocent! Life in a 1950s small town was innocent for 13 and 14 year olds – at least as far as we were concerned. All of the aforementioned friends were boys – Barry, Billy, Bert and Dave, we were two girls – and none of us did anything wrong – truly! We were quiet and careful not to annoy anyone, we didn’t draw graffiti on walls or steal anything. But, we felt so daring. It was great!

*dish soap in America