My sisters, Lela and Blanche had always wanted to go to this place. The very thought of it made me shudder. Since I was always the chauffeur on our yearly Autumn excursion through the local hills and hollows, I could usually take a turn down some country road, with grass growing in the middle, and get their minds off of it. This time though, they were relentless with their pleas and I finally gave in.
It was only about a 45 minute drive and since the trees were in full Fall colors, I figured I could at least enjoy the scenery. As we drew near to our destination I could feel the dread building up inside of me and my palms started to get sweaty. Lela and Blanche were almost to the point of exploding with excitement so I knew there was no point in trying to turn back now.
We cruised slowly through the small town where this house of horrors was located and the sisters were sitting upright in their seats, clutching their purses with white knuckled hands. Finally it came into their view and I thought they might possibly just jump out the windows. That thought was followed by if they really did jump out, I could just keep on driving, but that didn't happen.
I pulled into the driveway of this huge old building that I was sure had been a storage unit for barges in a previous life. The name of its current occupant was painted in large block letters across the front. I stopped the vehicle and before I could get the gear shift in park, Blanche nearly knocked Lela down getting out the door. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, I knew it would be hours before I would see the light of day again. We had arrived at the dreaded Antique Mall.
When Mother made the decision to leave her small home and move in with Blanche, we all helped her move. It was the coldest day of the year, in January, and although the house was small, it was packed to the gills full of stuff. When my husband and I got home that day he said he couldn't imagine what it would be like if we had to move. I made a vow, right then and there, that I would not put my children through the task of having to pack up all of our stuff. I started getting rid of it, things that hadn't been touched or used for months, maybe years. But, alas, somewhere in our house is a vortex, a portal if you will, where things magically enter. If I get rid of two items, three more find their way in. That said, the Antique Mall is not my idea of a fun time.
Being a late in life child and a decade and more younger than my sisters, I do not share their enthusiasm for antiques. I do enjoy their company though and I had no choice but to follow them into this flash back to the past. It was crammed full of individual booths that spanned acres of space and each booth was equally crammed with stuff, old stuff. By the time I caught up with them, their eyes had glazed over and I knew I was in for the long haul.
The sisters perused this place like they do a clothing store, fingering every item. I walked around and noticed that people obviously didn't use dining room tables any more, because there were at least 50 of them in there. I also came to the conclusion that this is what happens to your stuff when your kids don't want it.
After what seemed like an eternity, Lela had found some small trinket and Blanche had found an old desk telephone. It was old enough that it didn't even have a dial on it. Back when it was in use all you had to do was pick it up and say "Operator" and said person connected you with your party.....and listened to your conversation, early beginnings of NSA. This phone also stayed in the back of my old Suburban for six months, so I knew she really needed it. Finally they paid for their treasures and I was finally able to get out of that scary place.
I must be honest, I did find one thing I would have liked to have. It was a large cast iron ball & claw foot bathtub. I gave some thought to stuffing it into the back of the Suburban until I had my own "flash back" memory. I had been to an auction, in another state, and found a bargain upright piano for $25. Since my only mode of transportation at the time was a full size van, I unfolded the back seat and had the nice gentlemen at the auction house gingerly place the piano on the seat. Blanche and Lela were with me at the time and we hopped in the van and headed home with the piano bouncing up and down on the seat, kind of like a cork in water. When we arrived home, I ran to get my husband so I could show him my fantastic bargain shopping abilities. I threw open the back doors to the van and said, "Look Honey! It's a piano!"
I shall never forget the look on his face when he said......Well, you don't really want to know what he said, it was scary too.
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