Lady needed more Boss Ma’am business clothes so we ventured into Surface City which had no pity as we walked through miles of aisles of tops and bottoms and intimate in-betweens normally unseen.
Being her driver, I pushed the shopping cart, and as I sat waiting outside dressing rooms, I saw one tried-on unbought dress on a hanger inside out, so I put it right. Found a belt in a trash can and returned it to the return rack. Saw a blouse tossed on the floor and hung it back up.
And not once was there a magic pot of gold reward.
When wee, I read fairy tales. One that stuck was the large rock in the road. It impeded traffic, but traveler after traveler from high class to low just walked or rode around it, showering it with curses.
Finally a simple good-hearted farm boy came along, saw the rock and removed it so others would have an easier passage. As soon as he picked up the rock, he saw the pot of gold the King had hidden beneath as reward to whomever was good enough to do a good deed.
Having been a farm boy, I’ve been removing rocks for others for seven decades now, and so far no pot of gold, no King, just mostly curses. But it did make me feel better about myself, which is reward enough.
Wrote this while waiting outside the dressing room watching customers walking the aisles.
Skin Deep
Meandering through Mammon
in search of moral tampons
Gotta clothe the surface
to make us worth us
Can’t be down and dirty
climbing up the well
Ain’t I purty?
Ain’t I swell?
– Smith, 5.30.2016
