Dateline Normal, Mn.: Family Entertainment Center Comes to Town

(Ed.note. This is one of a long series of fictional sketches of a small town in Northern Minnesota, just south of Garrison, Mn. called Normal, Mn. )

Last Friday night, after a very long drive up Hwy 10 north of the Twin Cities, I came finally to Normal, Mn. It's not on the google Earth map---but then neither is Evansville. It's there. It's real. There is just no documentation.

I noticed immediately that not a soul was moving in town. I wondered what was up. I stopped the car and asked a boy who was throwing rocks along the side of the road: "Where's everybody tonight sonny.?"

"There'all at the new Family Entertainment Center down at the end of town. Down by the marsh." I was amazed. So the Family Entertainment Center had finally come to Normal, after all these years.

Driving east, I noticed the very tall neon sign with the outline of a dancer and the bold neon words, "Normal Family Entertainment". Right next to the large brick building was a smaller building with a sign above that said, " Tippsy Tom's Daycare." Well of course. This was one of them day care places so the kids could play while their parents got loaded. Wow. That's wonderful.

I went in Tippsy Tom's first to see who might be there at 11pm. There in the corner was one of my favorite youngsters, Oliver TwistTop. His dad just loved the convenience of the twist top bottles so much he named his kid after one.


"How to you like this place?" I asked him. "Wow," he exclaimed. "It's really neat." I come here almost every night. Sometimes I am so lucky cause the police drive me home in their squad. It doesn't get any better than that."

As I entered the Family Entertainment Center, I noticed that they had a bar, bowling alley, a massage and nail salon, and even a special cigar bar. Wow. Everything a guy could want. And besides, the beer, bait and ammo shop was right next door.

All those flashing strobe lights were hard on the eyes. The loud music. The smoke. The dancing girls.

It sure is good to be back in good ol' Wisconsin. Where bars are bars and daycare is daycare.