It took time, but I found out: BUSY DAY

From down the street I spotted the man in front of the five and ten, holding his stack of cards, giving them out to passers by. We were going by him in a minute ourselves. Mama took one and went back for another. With the cards in her hand, we went inside to the soda fountain, the part that had the stools. The end didn’t. That was where black people waited for ice cream they had to take out. My two cent ice cream sandwich was too big to bite so I just licked the strawberry and vanilla until it was soft enough for Mama to squish it together., taking care not to break any of the waffle squares. If she did, I would be awfully mad. We wiped our hands and mouths on the hard white paper napkins and went to buy new dress shoes for me at Wyman’s.

To get to Wyman’s Shoe Store  we had to cross busy Howard St. The day was warm and pretty. I could smell the wonderful smell as soon as the traffic policeman signaled the crowd to go. Outside of the store stood a friend of mine. The armless man sold lavender in little paper cups. Mama sometimes straightened the wide straps he had on his shoulders. She would buy 2 cups for 5 cents and let me put mine in a pocket, if I had one. Otherwise, she’d put both cups in her shopping bag, where we both knew they would spill out.

I tried on black shiny patent leather shoes with a button instead of laces. They hurt. I tried on another size and they hurt too. ‘Mama, is it too early to get white shoes?’ I asked. It was so we tried another store, Harold’s, down the street. ‘Mama, these feel good. Are you going to buy them for me for Easter?’ She looked at the box, saw the price was $5 , smiled and said, ‘Yes, Darling. I’ll buy the shoes for you. Just be sure to thank Daddy when we get home.’

When we came out of the store, there was lots of excitement on Lexington St. The sun was gone. There was an eerie light, yet no storm clouds. Men were selling pieces of smoked glass for ten cents and lots of people were buying them. Mama said two of Daddy’s X ray negatives would be just as good, but we didn’t have any with us. She wouldn’t let me look up at the sky like everyone else, so we walked away. Crowds were gathering on the Gas and Electric corner where it was always so windy ladies had to hold their skirts tight to keep them down. Mama told me to always do that as men just stood around waiting and watching for a strong gust of wind to grab somebody who wasn’t careful. We both got safely past the corner and no one saw our panties.  They were all looking at the sky.

That day was wonderful. I had the big ice cream sandwich, will get my lavender from Mama’s pocketbook when she empties her junk,  new Mary Jane shoes,

but , hm hm,hm, I didn’t get any smoked glass, and I didn’t find out what made the light in the sky go out.