Shopping Day

“Claude! Keep your dress on until you get back in the dressing room!” Mom urgently whispered as my Great Grandmother made her way back to the curtain covered doorway.

It was a quite an experience taking Claude downtown to shop. Actually, it was quite an experience taking her anywhere.

Mom and Claude had an agreement before they went into this particular store. One of the sales ladies there was known to be just a little bit pushy. When customers would exit the dressing room to see themselves in the full length mirror just outside, the saleslady would always say, “Darling! That just looks wonderful on you! Oh, it’s definitely a must for your wardrobe!” It didn’t matter how it actually looked.

Per their agreement, Mom would stand behind the saleslady and shake her head to signal yes or no, letting Claude know about the clothing. If Mom nodded yes, Claude might strut across the store, looking in every mirror she could find. If Mom nodded no, that dress might start coming off before mom could shuffle Claude back into the dressing room.

After many wardrobe changes, Claude would leave with several dresses, neatly folded and boxed, handed to me to carry back to the car.

“Let’s stop by the dime store,” Claude requested while walking down the sidewalk towards the car. I remember the smell of popcorn upon entering the bright red, shiny front building, which my favorite place to buy books with my weekly allowance.

“She loves me yeah, yeah, yeah!” we hear coming from across the store, as Claude puts a Beatle wig on her head and starts to sing and dance.

“Who is that woman?” one of the employees asks my Mom.

“I have no idea,” Mom replied.

“The Queen Of Barlow Bend has arrived!” Claude announced as she entered the doors of the hair salon at the end of town. After Claude got a quick cut and set, we headed back to the dusty, red dirt roads of Barlow Bend to her little wooden house in the woods.

A big day for Claude. An exhausting day for Mom. A fun day for me.

From the mind of me.