By Renee Lajcak

It’s the 1970s in conservative Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  My older brother Bob and older sister Michelle are out of the house in their own apartments, having exciting lives with interesting friends, while I’m still stuck at home going to high school.  One of their more intriguing friends is Roger Beregszazi, someone we all agree is a really nice guy to be around.  Roger is a nurse who lives only a block from our family’s house with a group of other guys.   Michelle is invited to Roger’s house for a Halloween party and I tag along.  I don’t remember my own costume, but I do remember one costume I saw.  It was a young man with delicate features and golden blond curls who dressed in a white nightgown as “Wee Willie Winkie” from the childhood poem:

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,

Upstairs and downstairs, in his nightgown;

Rapping at the window, crying through the lock,

“Are the children in their beds?

Now it’s eight o’clock.”

The other thing I remember is the distinctive decorations.  There were groups of two round balloons and one long balloon, attached up and down the stairway banister.  I could easily spot the phallic innuendo, but only saw it as a finger flick in the face of the moralistic adult world I was still subject to.  It took me a while to realize that the group of men, Wee Willie Winkie, and the balloons were a glimpse into the tiny island of gay culture in my hometown in the 70s.

A few months later, Michelle and I are invited to another party at Roger’s more and more intriguing house.  A Tupperware Party of all things.  The mom of one of the roommates is just starting out selling Tupperware, and her son told her that he could get together a group of friends for her to practice on.  The mom, a heavy-set woman in a dress, is sitting on a chair, knees demurely together, with all her Tupperware items displayed around her, hoping to sell some.  But first, at Tupperware parties, goofy games are required.  And this is where the party turned raucous and raunchy. One game was a series of advertising slogans, and we had to name the product.  I still remember two.  Tupperware Mom read from a card, “Breakfast of Champions” to which someone from the back shouted out “Oral sex!” An outburst of laughter from all.  Except Tupperware Mom.  A few cards later, she read, “The taste you hate, twice a day.” to which someone else shouted out, “Now THAT is oral sex!”  These audacious comments were meant to harmlessly entertain the other guys, not to offend Tupperware Mom, but by the time the game was over, she was so flustered that she was trembling.  Despite the bawdy, in-your-face humor of the group (and maybe due to a bit of guilt), the guys then seriously examined all her wares and everybody bought at least one piece of Tupperware.

I read in the 1980s that Roger had died of AIDS.  His mother had written an article in our local paper about Roger and how he died.  I remember being impressed because AIDS was still something that was only whispered about in those early days in towns like ours.  I’m grateful I had an introduction to the joy and laughter of the gay community before this tragedy unfolded.

©2024 Renee Lajcak

Renee is a newly retired English language teacher who has taught in several Asian countries but now enjoys her woodsy backyard the best.  She loves the connections made through storytelling and teaching conversational English, but writing about memories allows her to go inward to contemplate the good, the bad and the ugly.  But mostly the good.