By Mitch Lee
Spring-like weather had finally arrived that first week of May 1976 allowing us to have recess in the open sunshine and snowless hillside behind our Inlet Common School.
The games we played were Tag and Capture the Flag.
As we played we often made pretend we were our favorite television heroes.
I vividly remember us all trying to imitate the Six Million Dollar man’s slow motion running, and his dynamic powers by breaking sticks across our knees.
My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard at each of the impressions.
Our favorite show to imitate was Emergency. We each took turns at being paramedic unit Squad 51 and working in concert with the Rampart General Hospital medical staff.
We took turns being John Gage and Roy DeSoto, or victims of a car wreck or some other mishap.
We emulated how they spoke and the actions of the hook and ladder crew of Engine 51 who had to cut the victims free from a car.
We fashioned a coat as a stretcher to rush them to the waiting rig for treatments. And we used medical jargon, such as Riggers Lactated V-5 W, whenever possible.
We cupped our hands over our mouths as if we were talking into imaginary radios and shouted the correct medical lingo at each other.
Our bicycles became careening trucks and cars that needed immediate assistance. We faked rope climbs down the back slope of the school to rescue eight victims of a bus crash. Our determination to imitate the spirit of that show was immense.
Just as my parents played Cowboys and Indians—as seen on the small and large screens in the 40’s and 50’s—elementary school children of today are also flooded with images from television that could be played out in a similar way.
The other day I watched a group of children acting out a scene from the Walking Dead, a wildly popular show about how to stay alive while surrounded by zombies who want you dead.
It reminded me of playing behind our school on that first spring day in the Adirondacks.
We were creative and enjoyed spending time with each other as the world around us came back to life.
Mitch Lee, Adirondack native & storyteller,
lives at Inlet. ltmitch3rdny@aol.com