Screenshot
A Glass Menagerie from The Five and Dime
When I was a kid there were two stores In my Bronx neighborhood we called the “five-and-dimes”. One was Woolworth which of course was a national chain, and the other was Fishers which I think was just a local store. Yet to my child’s sensibility they were both grand emporiums selling priceless treasures, and I remember shopping there with my grandmother.
She and my grandfather lived about a hour away by car in Far Rockaway, and of course we’d often visit back and forth. But after my grandfather died, although she had a license, my grandmother was nervous about driving long distances alone, and so to visit us she came by bus. And I remember waiting for her at the bus stop which was on the same block as Fishers, and when she got off the bus we’d go into the store together and I’d pick out a little glass animal to add to my prized collection.
And although it seems a lifetime ago, I remember how grown up I felt shopping for my glass menagerie in that local five-and-dime.
And I remember how proud I felt shopping there with you, Grandma.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
I could hear the song ‘Memories, of the way we were’ while reading this story.
Thanx Kevin, yes indeed that was a snapshot of the way we were!
Lovely memories! I also recall the little glass animals, so endearing, but yours came with the special addition of grandma visits and love. Treasures indeed.
Thanx Khati, and you’re right of course, the story is really about remembering my grandmother’s love!
Wow, Dana, a real-life Glass Menagerie story! Only yours had a happier ending!
Thanx Jim!
I wonder what ever happened to that long-gone glass menagerie of mine?