The Shop Around the Corner
A little children's store on the corner near my apartment, Big Fun Toys, is going out of business and it reminded me of the movie, "You've Got Mail." I often passed it and once bought a little finger puppet there and Shirley Temple paper dolls for my cousin. I never really gave the shop much thought, except for when I was dodging all the strollers that were in front of the place.

Inside, the greedy people rummaged through the 50% inventory as the sales people replied tersely to their abrupt questions, like were they selling the lamp at the register? Little kids carried dolls and pulled on their parents pants waving their prizes. One woman kept repeating to the owner, an aging blond woman, that, "You don't understand how upset I am." The owner smiled and said she was upset too and her young coworker patted her on the back as she rang up the sale.

Not able to resist the prices, I bought a Sponge Bob Square Pants pool paddles for my cousin Selena and a battery operated ball for my baby cousin, Anthony. As the owner processed my credit card, she told me in a sweet voice, "Oh that's a beautiful name, It's one of the prettiest I've sold to." This made me feel even sadder that she was losing her shop ;)