Gather around, get comfortable.
Grab a cup of coffee and lend me your ear, I have a story to tell you.
I grew up in a small town. Williston, ND, perhaps you have heard of it? It is on the Bakken oil formation you may have been hearing about. Growing leaps and bounds at this present time.
My mom, that is her above, never drove. We never owned a car, we simply walked wherever we needed to go. It was simpler then. Do you remember downtown shopping? Before malls....before super stores. When we got a 7-11 it was BIG TIME! Open 24 hours...who would have ever thought.
K-Mart was the reigning king of shopping, but it didn't even open in our little town until I was in the 6th grade.
We would head out to the Red Owl
Gambles and Robinson
Woolworth's 5 and 10
and occasionally.......
WE WOULD J-WALK!!
yes, from time to time my mom would say those words........
"Let's cut across."
and we would........
no cross walk
just right there at the JC Penny across to the Pamida!
I would get goosebumps running behind, all of 6 years old, trying to keep up. Scanning for cars
Part elation of the thrill
part shame of the crime!
And always watching...........
for him
Sneaky Pete!
That was my mom's name for the cops.
Every time someone did something wrong or even thought of it......she would say, "He's watchin', they are always watchin'."
I thought all police were sneaky like that. Come to find out years later there really was a cop named Pete with a bit of a rep for being "sneaky".
J- walking is pretty much gone...for that matter walking from store to store is too.
I miss Christmas in that small town.
Strolling the streets .....looking at the window displays all lit up. Stomping the snow off your feet as you walked in the door, hearing the bells hung on the doors ringing with your arrival.
I miss the old Woolworth's counter...all silver with stools you could spin on and pie displays to drool over. Homemade pies.
Piggly Wiggly, which became the Red Owl. I will never forget the day I licked the ice on the freezer and left part of my tongue there.
Days long ago....
Today things are different. Malls rule. No one stops for pie and a malt. No bells on the doors, no friendly store owner out cleaning his windows or shoveling the sidewalk.
so, today let's
1. visit a local mom and pop store
2. have a piece of pie
3. do a little "street walking"
4. Keep our eyes open for Sneaky Pete, he's always watchin'
