Montgomery Ward
Posted: 21 Mar 2018, 09:25
I’m outside Montgomery Ward looking to buy an ironing board. I didn’t know the store was here. I thought the stores were no more.
I go in. Everyone’s dressed in 1960’s clothing. I guess that style is coming back. Of all the decades, it had to be the 60’s? That’s whack.
I’m hungry so I have a tuna melt and a coffee inside the store restaurant. The waitress has a 60’s hairdo too. I finish eating, pay the check, and go looking for what I came for.
I’ve never been to Montgomery Ward before so I don’t know what aisle the ironing boards are. I see a teenage boy pushing a mop. I ask him where I can find the ironing boards. He leads me to the next aisle and helps me pick out the best style.
I head to the register to pay. The line is long. I overhear people talking about Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. I think nothing much of it and continue to wait.
It’s my turn. The cashier looks like she’s out of the 1960’s too. She’s wearing cat eye glasses and a beehive hairdo.
She rings me up and tells me, “Have a nice day.” I tell her, “You too. I go outside to the corner to catch the bus home.
The next morning as I open the newspaper there’s a picture of a burned down building. It’s Montgomery Ward. The same store I was at the day before.
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Ward Fire. I keep reading. There’s pictures of the victims. I saw them all in the store yesterday. I’m shocked and a little afraid as it sinks in that they were all ghosts.
Out of curiosity I open my linen closet. My ironing board has disappeared. It’s gone. Now I have to buy another one.
I go in. Everyone’s dressed in 1960’s clothing. I guess that style is coming back. Of all the decades, it had to be the 60’s? That’s whack.
I’m hungry so I have a tuna melt and a coffee inside the store restaurant. The waitress has a 60’s hairdo too. I finish eating, pay the check, and go looking for what I came for.
I’ve never been to Montgomery Ward before so I don’t know what aisle the ironing boards are. I see a teenage boy pushing a mop. I ask him where I can find the ironing boards. He leads me to the next aisle and helps me pick out the best style.
I head to the register to pay. The line is long. I overhear people talking about Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. I think nothing much of it and continue to wait.
It’s my turn. The cashier looks like she’s out of the 1960’s too. She’s wearing cat eye glasses and a beehive hairdo.
She rings me up and tells me, “Have a nice day.” I tell her, “You too. I go outside to the corner to catch the bus home.
The next morning as I open the newspaper there’s a picture of a burned down building. It’s Montgomery Ward. The same store I was at the day before.
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Ward Fire. I keep reading. There’s pictures of the victims. I saw them all in the store yesterday. I’m shocked and a little afraid as it sinks in that they were all ghosts.
Out of curiosity I open my linen closet. My ironing board has disappeared. It’s gone. Now I have to buy another one.