Lily

[vaneramos]

I just walked across the corner to A&M Variety to buy cream for my decaf. The store had been cleaned and scrubbed, and the shelves were sparsely filled. The dour old East Indian man had disappeared from behind the counter. His sombre relatives no longer skulked beyond the back door and the dark, hot smell of their food had evaporated like a spirit. The apartment behind stood empty and freshly painted. The family had lived there since I moved here in 1998.

A spritely Asian woman stood tinkering with the till. "I just buy and move in yesterday," she replied to my inquiry.

She didn't know the price of cream and was going to charge me for a carton of chocolate milk: $1.50. I found and pointed out the tag: $2.99.

I welcomed her to the neighbourhood and took the unusual step of introducing myself. It has bothered me that I barely know people with whom I do commerce every week. Her name is Lily.

Comments

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

Hello Lily
welcome to Van's neighbourhood and may you have many blessed adventures and moments with your new store.


I always imagine a lot of neat stories would come from such a career. I remember growing up the corner store was really, if not the heart than at the very least a main valve of our little community.

At least for a child with a love for pixie stix and black cats it was.

:)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

In Windsor we had an ice cream place around the corner where Mom would send me alone with enough change for a cone. Our weekend place on Lake Erie, where I grew up from the age of eight, had a corner variety about half a mile away. We would walk there in summer and I would buy all the penny candy I could for a quarter. It's gone now; you have to drive to get to the nearest store.

I've always admired people who made friends easily with the people who worked in places like this.

My 13-year-old is addicted to Pixie Stix.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

i wish you many happy transactions with lilly. she sounds lovely.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

She looked so hopeful and enthusiastic about her new enterprise, I was touched.