Writer's Lab #4

What do you remember about shopping with your mother? Any particular stores? What was your favorite store?

Ahh, Family Dollar. Or was it Dollar Tree? Or the 99 Cent Crap-Shack? I don't remember the exact name of the place, but man, what bargains!! When I was 17, Mom gave me one dollar every week for my allowance. Mom would hand over one crisp, new dollar bill every Saturday morning, then preach on and on about how I should save that dollar. Invest in IBM, Walgreen's, dotnet.com, or at least bury the dollar in the backyard. But no way! I earned that dollar cleaning out the rabbit pens and re-tarring the roof. It was off to Dollar Town City!

Of course, I had no way to get there on my own. Mom would make her own trip down there on Saturday afternoons and I would tag along. Ironic that she didn't want me to spend the money I earned, but drove me to the store where I had the chance to spend it.

I remember some of the favorite toys I would buy. Super balls, plastic spider rings, cap swords. And snacks. I could buy six ounces of Naugahyde jerky. One could chew on that stuff for hours and hours and it wouldn't dissolve. It would just turn into a big, white mass of some chemical by-product. But who cares? That was cheap jerky!

This store even sold DVDs for one dollar (plus embargo tax). I picked up some great films there, which I still own to this day. Casper the Friendly Ghost meets the Wolf-Man. Mitchell, the Grumpy Ghost meets Buck Rogers. The Planet from Outer Space. Good times.

So, to answer the original question, no, I really did not actually shop with my mother. I just tagged along on her shopping trips. I wasn't too interested in following her around the store, looking a hair braids and light bulbs.