Yesterday’s Five-and-Dime Simplicity


Maybe I’m nostalgic ‘cause…

Back then, every day was a holiday
At Grant’s Five-and-Dime store.

Colored things were floor-to-ceiling,
Holding fast the lingering scents of popcorn,
American grilled cheese sandwiches,
Salt Water Taffy and fudge squares,
Clashing with parakeet and hamster living.
They were in the back where the little kids’ zoo was.

Maybe ‘cause

Life-size cardboard Hopalong Cassidy
And Gene Autry cutouts hung from fishing lines,
Wrapped round roof nails.
Five and Dime treasures dangling—
Kid literature my dad called them—
Five cent comic books right next to
Licorice and malt-ball canisters.

And just up the aisle,
Grandma’s favorite counter
Where she’d always buy her special envelopes—
Light blue par avion with printed airplanes.
I’d lift my chin up to the edge,
Stare at those airplanes
And dream. Wow, how I dreamed.

Maybe ‘cause
I was collectin’ make believe for when…

Oh, how I, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma,
Loved to drive the ’39 Ford into town,
Saunter up to the Five and Dime counter,
Order a turkey dinner,
Or liver and onions,
And then stare so long…
So long they’d stare into
Their empty coffee cups,
While I slurped my root beer.
I could make a root beer last forever
You know?

Mama bought a lampshade once,
The crimped accordion-kind,
Along with those lacy see-through curtains.
“Par-cale” I think she called them.
Never did understand their purpose.
What good’s a curtain you can see through?

And home,
When they were hung,
They’d lift and float straight out
When the windows were open.
Grandpa’s cows and chickens would chorus up
Join me to laugh and the dancing curtains.

See-through-lift-up curtains.
Made no sense.

Maybe ‘cause

That’s how they all
Wanted to be remembered,
My Mama, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.

I don’t know.

Now I sit in my Lexus
Gaze across the street
Where the twenty-story
Glass and steel office building stands.
Where the old Five and Dime
Held so many good times.

Maybe I drove here ‘cause

I just needed to finger some nickels and dimes
In the pant pocket of my Armani suit
Gaze and remember the sweet smells and jelly bean colors,
Where a mere nickel or dime purchase
Meant gettin’ happy and stayin’ happy.

Yesterday’s simple purchases always gave us simple smiles.

Today?