The Salvation Army in Conway, AR wasn't very grand. On a small side street just off downtown, it was housed in a dilapidated building. Compared to the Salvation Army stores in Wichita, KS it was small and poorly lit, with a cracked and uneven poured concrete floor. This store was in need of some serious repair and reorganization.
As Danette and I entered, dressed in our interview clothes (we would get to go back to the hotel to change before the actual pageant), I quickly scanned the store and found it jumbled and strange. We sheepishly made our way through the furniture section where I spotted a pair of end tables that had a certain panache--a look one might call Suburb-Asian. The price wasn't bad, and I might have bought them, but they were large and Danette had packed a lot of stuff so I didn't think they would fit in the SUV. They were really the only thing of interest in the entire department
Moving on to knick-knacks, I found a set of chef guys (creamer and sugar) that were a bit chipped, but otherwise too cute to pass up. I forced them on Danette--she is going for a kooky kitschy kitchen and these are perfect, yet she tried to resist because the little men have FLIES on their faces. It's funny and bizarre! However, there were a several things that I resisted:
1. An odd rose/shell combination dish
2. Some blue glasses like the ones I found all over Wichita, but they were in very bad shape
3. Lots of records
4. And Danette (Queen Diva of Decoupage) resisted a suitcase she was going to cut and paste up with crazy stuff. It would have been fantastique, but the interior was in poor condition.
As we approached the check-out counter, I spied a small set of sherbets (not pictured) in the glass case up front. You know, where they put the good stuff. They were from Turkey and still had the manufacturers sticker on them, in perfect shape and very cheap. Plus, who can resist a set of six of anything? Pas moi. So I snagged them and just at that moment the woman working the register (who we'll call Flonelle) was finishing up with the people in line in front of us:
"How are ya'll doin'?" she crooned in our direction, not waiting for a response before she raised her arm from which dangled an extraordinarily large price gun "It's attached to me, if I put it down I'll lose it, so I just keep it around my wrist. How are ya'll doin'?"
(Now I could use multiple superlatives to describe Flonelle, but I believe that since I have already told you that we were shopping in a Salvation Army in Conway, Arkansas that you, my intelligent readers, can generate a mental picture of your own.)
"We're just fine," we replied, "and you?"
"I am blessed, I am truly truly blesssssed," Flonelle told us, beaming like only someone who is truly blessed can beam. "Last week, we had all that rain...and it flooded my front yard. I'm telling ya'll that I had fish in my front yard swimmin' in a pond that used to be just a yard--all that water overflowed from the creek down the way. Didin know what to do!? Now the water has finally gone back down and I'm left with yard fullllll of stinking old dirty fish. But, I can't complain, because I am blessed."
We nodded in agreement--in that knowing way that says "I too have had the creek overrun its banks and flood my yard filling it with fish,"--and she just kept talking, again raising the arm with the giant pricegun dangling from her wrist and gesturing to a pile of donations behind us.
"See that?" We nodded. "That is job security. Those donations keep comin' in and keep pilin' up and as long as they do I'll be here pricin' away with this gun. Job security. I am blessed. Truly blessed."
We thanked her for our purchases which she had gingerly wrapped up in old newspaper and placed in recycled trash bags. She told us to have a blessed day and we went on our way to the Miss Arkansas Pageant, happy and content with some new little treasures and the pleasure of meeting Flonelle. And blessed. Truly, truly blessed.
As Danette and I entered, dressed in our interview clothes (we would get to go back to the hotel to change before the actual pageant), I quickly scanned the store and found it jumbled and strange. We sheepishly made our way through the furniture section where I spotted a pair of end tables that had a certain panache--a look one might call Suburb-Asian. The price wasn't bad, and I might have bought them, but they were large and Danette had packed a lot of stuff so I didn't think they would fit in the SUV. They were really the only thing of interest in the entire department
Moving on to knick-knacks, I found a set of chef guys (creamer and sugar) that were a bit chipped, but otherwise too cute to pass up. I forced them on Danette--she is going for a kooky kitschy kitchen and these are perfect, yet she tried to resist because the little men have FLIES on their faces. It's funny and bizarre! However, there were a several things that I resisted:
1. An odd rose/shell combination dish
2. Some blue glasses like the ones I found all over Wichita, but they were in very bad shape
3. Lots of records
4. And Danette (Queen Diva of Decoupage) resisted a suitcase she was going to cut and paste up with crazy stuff. It would have been fantastique, but the interior was in poor condition.
As we approached the check-out counter, I spied a small set of sherbets (not pictured) in the glass case up front. You know, where they put the good stuff. They were from Turkey and still had the manufacturers sticker on them, in perfect shape and very cheap. Plus, who can resist a set of six of anything? Pas moi. So I snagged them and just at that moment the woman working the register (who we'll call Flonelle) was finishing up with the people in line in front of us:
"How are ya'll doin'?" she crooned in our direction, not waiting for a response before she raised her arm from which dangled an extraordinarily large price gun "It's attached to me, if I put it down I'll lose it, so I just keep it around my wrist. How are ya'll doin'?"
(Now I could use multiple superlatives to describe Flonelle, but I believe that since I have already told you that we were shopping in a Salvation Army in Conway, Arkansas that you, my intelligent readers, can generate a mental picture of your own.)
"We're just fine," we replied, "and you?"
"I am blessed, I am truly truly blesssssed," Flonelle told us, beaming like only someone who is truly blessed can beam. "Last week, we had all that rain...and it flooded my front yard. I'm telling ya'll that I had fish in my front yard swimmin' in a pond that used to be just a yard--all that water overflowed from the creek down the way. Didin know what to do!? Now the water has finally gone back down and I'm left with yard fullllll of stinking old dirty fish. But, I can't complain, because I am blessed."
We nodded in agreement--in that knowing way that says "I too have had the creek overrun its banks and flood my yard filling it with fish,"--and she just kept talking, again raising the arm with the giant pricegun dangling from her wrist and gesturing to a pile of donations behind us.
"See that?" We nodded. "That is job security. Those donations keep comin' in and keep pilin' up and as long as they do I'll be here pricin' away with this gun. Job security. I am blessed. Truly blessed."
We thanked her for our purchases which she had gingerly wrapped up in old newspaper and placed in recycled trash bags. She told us to have a blessed day and we went on our way to the Miss Arkansas Pageant, happy and content with some new little treasures and the pleasure of meeting Flonelle. And blessed. Truly, truly blessed.