Monday, September 22, 2008

Ramble from Phair

Another lucky night, Phair shares once again.
Baby Gates

I needed to go shopping. Not for me but for baby gates. Again, not for me. Not even for a baby, really. I needed a couple of baby gates to block off the cats' personal space from Dakota. It seems she just doesn't know enough to stay out of the men's room (ie litter box).

To get to any larger retail store, I have to leave my little town by the sea. The nearest pet store is a half hour and three towns north. I popped in the ipod and fired up the jeep for the stop and go commute. Not only is my town separated from the rest of the Commonwealth by water and three bridges, there are twenty two sets of lights between here and there. Tedious. And, slow.

Universe of Pets is cavernous warehouse which serves to amplify any screeching child's voice. Fortunately, there were two such children being ignored by their parents when I entered. Wouldn't want to shop in peace and quiet, now would I? I doubled my usual meandering pace to get to the 'pet barrier' aisle. None. Nothing. Nada. Well, at least I'd be able to hurry away from the screaming kids. Got to look on the bright side, right?

Don't hate me. I went to Wal-Rats. Yes, I know they are destroying America and the way of life we hold dear but I really needed the baby gates…and bras…and dungarees…but that was it. Not a dollar more, I mean it. No baby gates. But, I still found myself leaving with four bags. Do they have some kind of hypnotic gas pumped in to confuse shoppers into buying stuff they didn't really need?

So, two stores down and still no baby gates. I really needed them. What to do? Where can I go that I know the shelves are well stocked? The answer was painfully clear. I needed to go back to the city I lived in for thirty years; a filthy, dirty, broke, and dangerous bastion of stores on the verge of closure because nobody risks shopping there anymore.

I maneuvered the jeep through the crowded streets without ever coming to a full stop. To drive there, you just sort of slow then accelerate always ready to dodge. You never want to give anybody a chance to grab the door handles. I forwarded my ipod to the Theme to Shaft hoping it would help me conjure up the bad ass inside me. The tough chick I use to be. I packed her away four years ago when I escaped the shadowy decay of this dying city. Sneer firmly in place, nobody bothered me when I walked across the parking lot and into the nearly empty store. Of course, I found my baby gates there. Dozens of boxes of them seemed to be waiting for me to come and claim them. I also found an impossible to find toy which I snatched up for my nephew for Christmas.

On my drive back to my new home, I could feel my bad ass self slipping away, grudgingly, but going. I don't need to be that hard anymore. My life is not the constant struggle to survive the emotional and financial poverty of city life anymore. For me, life has become as calm as the gentle ebbing flow of the tide; in and out and in and out.

When I pulled into my driveway, I thought I might just weep for the 97,000 I left behind. I hope each of them escape the despair of city living to find their own oceans.

phair
www.phair1.com


Phair, thanks for sharing. I am similar to you in the fact that I find the ocean to be my Peace, lets hope 97,000 others find somewhere else to go. Good luck with those baby gates.

Enjoy your updates.

Elisa

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