like he was going to pounce

.....Wow I have not written diddly in the way of stories for about a year ...maybe a little less.....I think the last one was about 1943 or 45 when my friend Gary Hogg and I took our collected bottles to sell.....no.... not the last story but that was the time the story took place.....anyway.....I can't find it but its back there somewhere...so this is kind of continued..........Gary and I had sold our pop bottles to Kenny at the Orchard Park then towed the wagon and dog up to the Marshal Wells hardware beside the old post office.....there we unloaded our whiskey bottles for 1 cent each.......we crossed the Young rd. corner ...Barber Drugs to Langley Greenhouses then up Wellington ave.....then jaywalked Wellington avenue at the Blue Star Cafe.........we had change in our pockets and Spencer's Department Store as our destination to do a little shopping........(Spencer's was later Eaton's and now a bowling alley )Spencer's ...wow...a big place ....we left the wagon and Tippy at the door and went into this amazing store...that was always a thrill........the first thing was to gawk at the change boxes zipping around on tracks...very cool...they sent the customers money up somewhere..... to make change I guess....I don't think there were any tills at the checkout counters....the money was sent off from the clerks in these little tin boxes that zipped away with a clatter and then zipped back to complete the transaction.....well, this delighted the kids ...it was like a minature railroad...that was always a main attraction when we went to Spencer's.....I can't remember exactly what it was all about , except the tilling must have all been done upstairs......It can't have been a very convenient way of doing business but it sure was entertaining......I wonder if anyone reading this remembers that....or was it our imagination....anyway, yup ...the huge magazine section at the front of the store (we were little kids ...it looked huge) was our main destination...they had comic books ...well .....all kinds of magazines and books....galore.....a great selection...comics were 10 cents each....they also sold what we called big little books.....I think they were about two bits.....big little books were neat.....about 4 x 5 inches and 1 1/2 inches thick....hard covered , with black and white copy ...... 1 frame comics or print per page .....quite often a 1 inch square character in the top corner of each page would generate a "movie" when the pages were flipped......very cool......but expensive......kind of different characters were featured like Don Winslow of the Navy and others not featured in the regular comics....I guess my favorite comics were Superman or Captain Marvel and his brother Captain Marvel Jr...and sister Mary Marvel.....the bad guy was usually Dr. Savanna.......After hanging around and being told 5 times to not read the comics we picked out a couple and happily paid for them at a counter with little tin boxes buzzing about...then we went out front ...grabbed the wagon and my dog and headed for 5 corners...crossed from Cunningham Drug store to the bank then across to Hipwell's Drugs and east a half block to the 15 cent store (Woolworths)......a great place to browse....they had a great toy section .....plastic soldiers and fighter planes were a great seller ...and yo yos .....and marbles .....wow ...all kinds of stuff......the floorwalker watched us like a hawk..... man I can remember him so clearly ...one scary dude ....his hands behind his back ...kind of bent forward like he was going to pounce...those steely eyes penetrating our every move...ain't nobody gonna pinch a plastic soldier on his watch.... the black oiled floors stand out in my memory...and the name of the manager is there somewhere but I can't dredge it up right now.......I remember the displays being just at my eye level and hard to see without going tiptoes...... I wanted a green Spitfire but I did not have the fifteen cents to buy it, neither did Gary...oh well...maybe next time I will skip the comic. After daydreaming about the toys for a while we left ...crossed Yale at the post Office then cut between it and the Progress office to the back alley ...from there it was 10 stone throws to our homes on Fletcher Street..... Our playground was within 2 blocks of Five Corners....where Gary lived is now the Post Office parking lot......our old house is still there ...barely....it was a neat little place but just sat there for 63 years and maybe the grass was cut occassionly ......