Summer 1957

Headlights crawl across my ceiling
Wait for mom and dad to get home
But I never could sleep on these hot summer nights
So I creep the carpet down stairs on tip toe

By day, I play ball on the green grass lawn
Drink from red Coke bottles and chew pink bubble gum
But here in the black of our living room
I am in orbit around a single white sun
Who will I find when I turn the knob?
A gigantic alien? The Thing? Or the Blob?

Now the moon perfectly framed in the window
The screens leave the night exposed, I settle in
With a glass of milk and a plate of oreos
Waiting for the show to begin

Tonight, it’s the Creature from the Black Lagoon
A man in a fish suit on the screen
But I’ve never been so afraid in my life
I can’t bear to look, but I can’t wait to see
His face when he surprises her in the hotel
And the look of disappointment when she cries for help

Now the moon perfectly framed in the window
The screens leave the night exposed, I settle in
With a glass of milk and a plate of oreos
And I don’t want the show to end

Sometimes I wonder - is that what I have?
Am I just another mistake from the lab
And could I be an alien and could that be why
My numbers and letters at school make me cry?

Headlights crawl across my ceiling
Mom tucks the sheets around my bed
But I can never sleep on these hot summer nights
And I don’t want the show to end