I can see like it was yesterday. Just another Friday. Like it always was
and always will be. I see her standing by the Eaton’s elevator in her dove grey
uniform. Charcoal stockings and high
heeled black pumps, straightening her tidy grey jacket with the shiny name
plate. Spotless grey gloves protecting her hands during work hours.
And her hair. That magnificent
hair. Marge Simpson would be
jealous. That hair, piled curl upon curl, as high as a beehive. Aptly named. Each
curl perfectly aligned with each other, sprayed within an inch of their lives. She
carried a can of hair spray in her bag for touch ups.
She got it done every Friday
before starting work. I would see her
pat at the spit curls, placed just so,
over her temples where gently throbbed her heart.
Her final touch would be to paint her lips luscious rose red,
check her teeth for wayward lipstick and pop in a piece of fresh mint gum and
chew it like mad, before discarding it
in the garbage bin, outside the door of the elevator. Then she was all set for the customers.
“Ready for anything and
anyone”, she told me.
She showed me how to run the elevator. Much to my glee I could
go fast or slow, as I wished. I always wished to go fast; can’t say the shoppers,
hanging on for dear life, were that
happy.. She told them I was “in training”
, even though was only about nine or ten. I got better at it, after a couple of years.
She’d buy us ice cream
on her break, and we would talk about
this and that, while we waited for my mother to finish her shopping in
Eaton’s. Most Fridays, I hoped my mother would forget to come and get me.
On just another Friday like that, there was a slow spell. No
customers around. We lounged at the
open door by the cafeteria. She talked about how when she retired they
would like drive a motorhome and travel around. See the sights. I sat on one of the orange cafeteria chairs
and listened to her. She just handed me
an ice cream cone, when THEY showed up.
Two young teenage boys happily chasing, jumping and carrying on, barging around the
corner. She came out of her reverie and shouted “HEY!” at
them.
They stopped dead in their tracks. She put her hands on her hips and glared. Demanded to
know what they were doing. They shuffled back and forth, suddenly quiet.
“Nothin’,” came the faint reply from one boy.
“You’re what??” She asked again .
“Nothin’. Just nothin’.” Shifting from side to side, while she eyed them. She demanded to know
what they were doing there alone.
“Ummmm, we’re with Dad. He’s in the bargain basement…” they pointed off in
the distance.
“Then why are you here?”
“Ummm. We were doing homework,” was their offering.
“You were doing your homework..” She repeated back to them with folded arms.
“Ummm. Yes…” Wishing
the earth would swallow them up.
“Did you finish it?”
“Ummmmmmm. Well. We kinda wanted to come buy stuff for our project.”
“ Buy stuff?”
“Ye, ma’am…” the boys wobbled on their feet.
“Then you’d better get going. NO running. Walk.”
“Yes ma’am”. They squirmed under her gaze.
Scrambling to get out of there, only looking back once, they got to the tunnel leading to the bargain centre. Assured she couldn’t see them, they ran like the wind had given chase.
She shook her head and
patted her spit curls. “If I get home and that homework isn’t done….” She said .
“ Yes, those two are mine. Wait till I
speak to their father …buying stuff. Like we need more stuff…..” She sprayed
her hair a tad.
And then I understood. She
grinned. We laughed and laughed that Friday. The customers showed up, finally,
in droves. We rode up and down, and down and up. I told her one day I wanted to
be just like her. I wanted her job. Where would I apply? I asked her. Too
funny.
It was the one and only
time I saw her boys. And as the years went by I lost touch with her. Never thought
I would see her again. Til one day I came across her son's name once more. I
recognized him immediately. Contacted him. I asked after her. After 40 years, would she remember me. She did. And I remembered her..
All I had to do was ask.. You never know how blessed you will be. No regrets. No what ifs or should haves. You search and you will find.
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