This reminds me of the time...

It was '71 or around then.

We lived in a seedy part of town. Looking back it felt like how a lot of those Blacksploitation movies looked; too bright during the day, just dark enough during the night to hide things. When I went back as an adult I was able to point out what I now suspect was a whorehouse and a corner where a guy would sell drugs to cars all day long.

My mom was driving us near our duplex or apartment (we moved a bit within the neighborhood) when we came to a red light. We were in the left turn lane with the right lane open.

I remember my mom loving the red '70 Ford Maverick. She'd been able to buy it on her meager wages because it had been a rental. She finally had the luxury of air conditioning. Our home didn't have Ac, just one of those water air chillers, but our car did!

Anyway... so we're stopped in the left lane at a red light when another car pulls up to our right and stops. My mom looks over and sees something she doesn't like, reaches past me and locks the door.

I look over to see a black man in a wide brim hat looking over at us. He saw what my mom did, looked at her then looked at me (I remember smiling at him) then looked back at my mom.

All of a sudden he busted out laughing, reached over with his right hand and locked his door too.

Of course, I didn't realize what was going on. But even at the age of 6 I couldn't pass up the opportunity to laugh with somebody so I started laughing too.

I don't know what kind of effect the whole exchange had on my mom. She may have thought it was funny, but I'm pretty sure it didn't change her way of thinking.