Look At That Van GO
	One hot day as a young lad of about twelve I walked slowly past the new Sears store on the corner of 22nd Street and Hillsborough Avenue. It's interesting to think that I didn't have a clue that someday I would be working there and my whole life would change forever. Not only would It be the start of a lifelong career as an artist but I would meet two of the most wonderful lifelong friends. Patsi Aguero and Sharon Carroll. We were young and thought we had the world by the tail. Patsi was an up and coming artist and destined to be one of the most noted artists in the Tampa Bay Area. Sharon was my jangling Gypsy Queen. With long flaming hair the color of an Irish setter, she was a cross between Cher and Meryl Streep in "Ricki and the Flash". Sharon had a genius IQ and was an award winning writer and song writer. Working at Sears, I hadn't met Sharon yet but Patsi came to me one day and knowing I was an artist said "Sharon Carroll, one of the secretaries has an old beat up VW van and we're going to paint flowers and slogans all over it. Do you want to help us?" During the sixties that's what young people did with old Volkswagen busses. And that's how I met Sharon. She was only working at Sears for a short time while waiting for her husband, Milton to come home from Vietnam. When we got to her house the bus was parked in the front yard and we got started painting. It wasn't unlike most of the psychedelic busses you saw during the sixties. I remember the main large picture I painted and I don't know why or where this came from but on the back of the bus, from top to bottom I painted a goat standing on its hind legs. She had lipstick, eye shadow, false eyelashes and a beauty mark on her face. She was wearing one long white glove on one "arm" and the other glove was off and she was swinging it in a big circle over her head. Between her hind legs were two long dangling utters like goats do have but with a tassel on the end of each one. I painted a big banner beside it that said "GYPSY ROSE GOAT". Sharon took one look at it and our friendship was sealed. The neighbors for some reason didn't like the van parked in Sharon's driveway. She said "They should be thankful it wasn't my house instead." She was kidding. She did have compassion for them and after driving it around a short time just to show it of she sold it and had no trouble at all finding a buyer, I'm sure to another zany like ourselves. I just hope their neighbors weren't too upset. Lash Out Loud