Diane to buy something at Charlie's, a small neighborhood grocery store. Mom told her to go through the alley for a shortcut.
As she was walking in the alley, she ran into my dad who was on his way home from taking the
bus home from work. He asked her how she was doing. They both kept walking but then,
Diane stopped and asked, "Where in the heck is Charlie's."
Well, we all found out Charlie's location. At the corner of the block of Tholozan and Watson,
there was a barber shop, a hardware store, Charlie's, a card shop and a drug store. One day, my mom went into buy some hot dogs because there was going to be an extra at dinner. When she
asked Charlie for two hot dogs, he asked her if she was trying to impress someone. Charlie
would ask my brother, Brian, to do his impression of the Japanese wrestler, Kihngsheshahbuba.
At the time, he was about 4 years old. He would take an aggressive stance and put his arms
out and made chopping motions. He took this imitation quite seriously. Charlie's was
the place where I saw my first jar of capers on the same shelf as the sweet relish.
I asked mom what they were and she said she didn't know. I asked Charlie and he said
you put them in salads. Charlie was a tall, broad-shouldered guy and his wife Audrey was
just the opposite. Charlie's apron was tied loosely and always full of meat stains and Audrey's was just the opposite. Her's was tied snugly around her waist and always crisp and clean.
She always wore the coolest shoes. sensible height but with a touch of whimsy. One pair
was black for the most part, but the area in front was a parrot made out of different
colored leather. Mom said she used to be a ball room dancer and fancy shoes probably made her current life, stocking and ringing up the cash register, a bit more tolerable. Both Charlie and Audrey seemed to like each other as well as love each other which is probably a good
idea if you were going to work together.
We all grew up visiting Charlie's on a regular basis. My sister even went to his son's prom.
She really didn't want to go, but my mom told her how much it would mean to both
Charlie and his son if she went with him if he asked her.
Dad was often found at the hardware store. I remember him buying about 5 nails at a time.
All the stuff was in different little bins and you just put what you wanted in little brown bag.
Both my dad and brothers went to the corner barbershop. Evidently there was an unspoken
agreement that children went to the barbershop during the week so the " working men" could
go on Saturday.
The drug store, Duker's, was on the corner. The pharmacist, Jim, knew all our illnesses.
He was also in two Olympics as a speed skater. His wife owned the card shop next door.
They also had a son, and he made it to the Olympics, too.
Across the street from Duker's was Pietro's Restaurant. Rocco was the maitre d' and always
made you think he was giving you the best table in the house. You could go in the front door
or the side door. I don't think I ever went in the front door. On Friday's we would sometimes
meet after work or school. Once we started dating, Pietro's was an inexpensive place to go.
I remember taking Brian's kids there one time when they were in town the same time we were.
Pietro's had a large parking lot and then on the next corner was a fast food place of the
old persuasion. No drive through. It was called "What-a-Burger," no relation to the chain
of the same name. Even when we lived on Winona, Dad would bring back burgers and
malts from "What-a-Burger." We thought we invented brain freezes and chest freezes.
One night my sister and I and her two boyfriends, who were best friends, were walking home
from the burger place. One of her boyfriends was laid back and preppie (it didn't have a name
back then), the other was flamboyant, had a smart mouth and the horror of every mother's
dream. That night, as we walked back to our house, the flamboyant fellow decided he was
going to climb a gigantic metal light post and undo the light. We watched as he climbed and
he was almost half way up when a squad car pulled into the parking lot. The police man asked us what we were up to and we told him we were walking home. Motioning to the light pole, he asked if that kid was with us and what did he think he was doing. The preppie boyfriend told the policeman that the kid had left something on the light post last week and was just going up
to get it and then coming right back down. The policeman said, "Well, after he gets it, go on
home, it's getting late."
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