A
NICKELS WORTH
by Roger Kiser
What a scared 7-year-old boy I was when
after two days, the orphanage finally let me out of that
dark closet. I took my bath, brushed my teeth with soap
and dressed myself for school in the clothes that the
matron laid on my bed. They were always too big or too
small for me.
When I reached Spring Park Elementary,
I walked past the school building. I was so afraid that
the other kids in the classroom would make fun of the
black and blue marks on my legs, where the head matron
had beaten me with the polo paddle.
I walked for what seemed to be hours.
Finally, I came to this great, big and wide street at
the end of Spring Park Road. I had never seen one that
big before and I had never seen so many cars in all my
life.
Across the street was a big brick store
and the sign on top said "Preston's Drugs."
There was also a sign in the window that read, "Everything
you will ever want is here."
It took me almost an hour to get across
Atlantic Boulevard, because I was scared of the cars.
Finally, I ran across the road as fast as I could and
none of the cars hit me. I walked into the large Preston
Drug Store and noticed people sitting at a counter. They
had drinks with ice cream in them. I had never seen anything
like that before. I do not think I had ever had ice cream,
but that is not what I was looking for anyway.
The sign said they had everything that
you would ever need in the whole wide world. I had heard
about something very special and I wanted to buy one,
if they had it. I looked and I looked and I looked, but
I just could not find the thing that I had heard about
on the television movie. I was looking around the store
when all of a sudden, this old man grabbed me by the arm
and it scared me very badly.
"What are you doing in here, boy?"
he yelled.
"I'm looking for something special,"
I said as I backed against the wall.
"Are you stealing stuff?"
He pointed directly at my nose.
"No sir, mister," I said. "I'm
not a stealer."
I was directed into a back office where
I was very firmly placed into a hard, wooden chair. A
police officer came in and asked me why I was not in school.
I did not tell him anything, because I was afraid he would
take me to jail for running away from the orphanage. Therefore,
I started crying very loudly. After the police officer
left the room, a woman, who appeared to be about 25 years
old, came in and sat by me.
"Were you stealing?" she asked.
"No ma'am. I was just looking for
something special."
"And what might that be?"
"Do you have a hug in this here
store?" I asked.
"We always have hugs for kids."
She stood up, wrapped her arms around
me and squeezed very tight. She smiled and walked out
of the small office very fast, with her hands over her
face.
When no one came back for a long time,
I looked out the office door and saw that the back door
of the store was open. I quickly walked out and I ran
all the way back to school. When I got there, I found
out that I was only about 20 minutes late.
I was the only kid in my class that day
that did not have the five-cent milk money for lunch.
That was because I had left my nickel on the desk at the
Preston Drug Store to pay for the hug that woman gave
me.
It really was "the store that had
everything” in the world that you would ever need
and I didn't have to steal it either.
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