I consider myself a very blessed person in my life. When I look into the past to my childhood I find that bad memories are scarce, and the good ones abound. I grew up the son of a divorced mother, and together with my younger sister shared a small two-bedroom house. We didn’t have much but my Mother always seemed to manage to provide us with what we needed, and we did have a lot of things we wanted also. I can remember on Saturdays her taking us to Kmart and letting us pick out a two-dollar toy. Times were good.
As I look back now I realize how hard it must have been for my Mother to make a life for us on the small salary she made working as a checker in the grocery store. And it is that grocery store that my memory takes me back to now.
I cant recall why, but lots of times on Sunday I got to go to work with Mother, and I would spend all day at the store with her. I’m not sure how she got away with it, but that’s the way it was, and it was always a good time for me. I was a friend to everyone that worked there. Sometimes I pretended that I worked there too. They would fold up an apron to where it would fit me, give me a feather duster, and let me tell you I was looking good!
Since I spent so much time there I had built a fort under the produce bins. They were designed in a way to where when they were pushed together it made a labyrinth of passageways underneath of them, the perfect fort. I had it furnished with boxes to sit on, and a box for a table to keep my comic books on. The produce dept was the best place in the store for my fort because I loved the smell of the produce. I can still recall sneaking over to the produce bin and sniffing the little bundles of sassafras there.
Tonight was Saturday night and tomorrow I would be going to the store with Mom. I would normally have a bowl of cereal before I went to bed. I loved to read when I ate, and before I went to sleep. If I were eating cereal, then I would read every word and letter on the cereal box. If not, then you can bet there would be a comic book sitting there in front of me. It’s too bad that I didn’t apply that energy to my schoolbooks also.
After I had eaten my cereal that night, I grabbed a Dennis the Menace comic book and crawled into bed. I layed there reading a story about how Dennis wanted to raise some money for himself. He set up a table out on the curb by the street, put a bowl up on the table, and on this bowl he placed a sign which read “ Help a Poor Kid”. People would stop their cars to donate money to this pathetic looking little boy sitting at the curb. It wasn’t long before the bowl was too heavy to lift for the treasure it held. The wheels in my head were turning at full speed as I was reading this story. And I knew if Dennis could pull this off then surely I could too!
The next day at the store I was secure in my fort thinking about this story, and I had decided that I was going to give it a shot. I went over to the section of the store where they displayed kitchen utensils and such. There was a wall of white pegboard there, and hanging on this wall was anything from oven mitts to thumbtacks. It was also there that they had placed a few barbecue grills that they had for sale. It was the perfected setting for my scheme.
I went to the front of the store and got me a brown grocery sack, on which I wrote “ Help a Poor Kid “. I taped it to the front of a charcoal grill and sat on a couple bags of charcoal behind the grill and I just started looking as pitiful as I possibly could. One woman passed by with her little boy, looked me over, walked halfway down the aisle, stopped, looked back, gave her little boy some change and he came back and dropped it in my sack. I knew I was going to be rich before day’s end! Within a short time a few more people had stopped by and donated to my cause. Then a man dressed in a long light colored dress coat stopped and gazed at me. I was starting to get a little nervous, and then he reached into his pocket and dropped something into my sack that almost pulled it off the grill. When he walked on I looked down into my treasure chest, and looking back at me was the likeness of Benjamin Franklin on a big shiny fifty-cent piece. I was starting to see endless possibilities here!
Little did I realize that my Mothers boss had spotted me and was watching from the next aisle. He went to my Mother and joking asked her if she knew that there were laws concerning child labor. He then led her back and showed her what I was up to. Needless to say, my operation was soon dismantled and I was in informed that what I was doing was wrong and that I was not to do it again. However since my donors were no longer in the store to receive their refunds, she let me keep my loot. I counted it up and in about a half-hour I had raked in seventy-four cents. Everyone in the store saw nothing but humor in what I had done, so I considered my scheme a to be a success. I spent the rest of the day in my fort, relaxing and counting my money.
Often times now when we go to Moms for supper or some kind of get together, this story will come up, and others like it, and bring laughter to the day. My children enjoy hearing the stories from my childhood, as much as I like telling them. Now they are already reaching into their short pasts, recalling good memories that they will someday be able to pass on to their children. It gives me heart to hear of good memory’s from them, and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to have put a few of them there. And I pray that in my family there will continue to be a chain of good memories reaching through time.
Jack Roberts – July 2002
Want to review or comment on this short story?
Need a FREE Reader Membership?
Reviewed by Tracey L. O' Very
4/10/2005
This is a great story and gutsy little guy there. Times were sure different and I too like your family Love your stories. Produce dept still perfect for forts. some things don't change huh? thank goodness. Won't see that dept the same I'll always see you hiding in there. forever. Thanks!! (C:)
Love them alot.
Thanks
Have a great day
Tracey
Reviewed by F. Richardson
1/14/2003
What an absolutely delightful story! The most memorable stories in my mind are the true to life ones. There is more drama, humor, sadness, and emotion in real life than any fiction story.
Well written, well paced, and delivered with just the right touch of humor. I look forward to reading more of your work.
It's almost Christmas. Lynn Basil is writing her last book about a secret entrance into the magical doll land of Sha Bebe that she loves so much. Bagannos have taken over the world! Lynn finally meets her dolls in real life. Can she write in a Secret
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
