tuesday october 23
John Updike
A&P
(i vaguely remember reading this one before. there was an a&p around the corner from my nana and papa's house in the bronx--such narrow narrow isles.)
the guy a row over and two desks down is my "stokesie," two babies for him and he's two years younger than i. he seems happy with his situation, even said he intended for the second son to be more two years after the first. but i know what i make and yes, as we often say: BABIES ARE CUTE. also though, babies are expensive and babies are time consuming. no doubt though, they're worth every dime and day. i just know where things stand in life and...yeah.
that store though, oh that store! i was really pleased with updike's description. the narrow isles, without signage, had a one-way flow and the content of any given row was a surprise. low ceilings, humming lights and the beeping of the register-i'm familiar with it all. when our store got the deposit bottle machine things got exciting. we'd gather all the liter bottles from the pizza place, drink things when we weren't thirsty and keep our eyes peeled. you can still get the same $0.05 for a can. fifteen years ago ten cans got you candy but now you'd probably need like...nineteen. inflation. ugh. and to think my mother used to get a soda and a slice for a quarter.
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2 comments:
ha! i read that story. was it in a compilation of american short story writers? that was the one quote i remember. oh, that and the scoops of vanilla metaphor, duh.
I love that story. I love you. I love that you have a blog. I love that I've sufficiently stalked you and now I can read your words.
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