Our Favorite Antiques Shop - 1st Half Text - Plus Full Audio

Here's the scoop, friends... This is, as indicated, the 1st HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. The 2nd half had to be posted separately due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations. No other way I could manage to make it happen...however, the audio file is the entire piece - Thanks for reading, or listening, or both...whatever the case may be - Cheers, Mark The breeze was brisk and cool that day, as Connie read the map, hoping to find a brand new route to go from here to there. The same old way was boring, and we both love tiny towns, so when she asked me what I thought, I told her, “I don’t care.” “I think I’ve found a town we’ve never been through,” she announced, “just ahead we’ll take a left on County 39. It’ll take us right through Pinkerton. I’m sure we’ve never been there. The population’s 86... I saw it on their sign.” “I hope they have a station,” I replied, “we’re gettin’ low. And if they have a small café, we’ll have to grab a bite. I’m actually feelin’ pretty tired - we’ve driven quite a ways, so if they’ve got a nice motel, we’ll stop there for the night. “How much farther is it, dear?” I asked my lovely wife. She said, “It’s less than fifteen miles. At least the road is good. Hopefully they’ll have a shop that’s packed with great antiques .” (When Connie felt the urge to find a shop…she usually could.) Sure enough, about a mile before we got to town, a fairly good-sized faded sign, to our delight, would say, “Pinkerton Antiques Shop, where you’ll only find the best. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. - We’re open every day.” “I can really pick ‘em, Hon” she chirped, “they’ve got a shop.” I simply smiled and told her, “Dear…it’s after 5 p.m., But, if, by chance, we find a small motel, I say we stay, but I’m afraid the chance of that is looking pretty slim. “I can live without a meal…there’re chips and pop in back…but if there isn’t some place nice where we can spend the night, We’ll have to keep on rolling ‘til we find a bigger town.” Then - right on cue - a small motel came drifting into sight. Though fairly old, the place was clean, and “VACANCY” was lit. And there, beside the office, was the only pump in town. A neon sign above the door read, “Thelma Lou’s Cafe,” and both of us were tickled close to pink with what we’d found. The antiques shop was just across the road, but closed, of course, so we filled the tank and booked a room, then grabbed a bite to eat. The meal was great, and we could tell we’d get a good night’s rest, then, first thing in the morning, we would trot across the street And spend a couple hours doing what we really loved…to sift through tons of ancient things in hopes of striking gold. See…me and Con surround ourselves with things from shops like this, and almost everything we buy is very, very old. Up at eight, we grabbed some ham ‘n’ eggs at Thelma Lou’s. The tip was left at nine-o-five, then across the road we sped. The door was standing open as we headed toward the shop -- with lofty expectations -- from the way the sign had read. “Where you’ll only find the best,” was racing through our minds as we came shooting in with great excitement in our eyes. But very soon we came to feel that we had been deceived…for all we saw were things that almost no one ever buys! What's more - to our dismay - there was a two-by-three foot placard just inside the door that read, ‘NOTHING IS FOR SALE - Pinkerton Antiques is now a subsidized museum, funded by a trust fund set aside by me and Dale.’ “Hi there, folks,” a greeting came, “I’m really glad you stopped. Come on in and look around. You’ve picked a lovely day.” And as we slowly scanned the room we found the voice’s face, as the oldest woman in the world would smile at us and say, “I’m sure you’re disappointed, kids - which I can understand, but those old signs are all I’ve got to lure ‘antiquers’ in. I know it isn’t right, but ever since my husband died, I've been really struggling with how lonely I have been. “Might you have a tiny bit of time that you can spare to visit with a lady that would fib to make you stop? Please forgive me,” she went on, “but…many years ago…a man from out of town - while he was browsing through our shop - Now, don't skip the 2nd half, it has a nice finale -