Back to School

The phrase ‘Back to School’ has created many feeling some of which has reached almost biblical proportions. For the parents it is a time of celebration. A time to return the living room back into a place that doesn’t look like a Toys R Us store. To the kids it is like off to prison to face multiple homework assignments, peer pressure and learning how to remove underwear from their but crack. And to those who do not have kids it is a time to complain like Satan about being stuck behind a school bus that make stops every 100 feet to pick up a child or two.

In all a time where the malls are less crowded, the roads have less teenagers on it until the afternoon and knowing you can finally go to a movie theater without listening to a bunch of kids talking throughout the entire film. But there are those small encounters that happen that leave one in awe. It was on a Saturday morning around October 2004 at a grocery store near State University in Raleigh, NC. The store had just opened up and I was inside writing down what I needed to fill up the shelf and displays before moving on to other stores in the area that this once in a lifetime event was preparing to take place.

The manager approached me to talk about moving a display to another area of the store plus general chit chat about sports and relative news topics. A customer entered the store which at that time of the morning was a rarity being that it was still dark outside and too early for anyone to really want to do anything on a weekend, especially around a University. We glanced over at this female customer and was struck that she was wearing a trench coat and running shoes. After a while the manager and I were still talking when she came near to where we were and while holding her current purchases tried to bend down and pick up another item. When she stood up we were given a show that was right out of a Penthouse forum.

Her coat was not buttoned or zippered up but instead it was held together with the strap that went around the coat. When the girl stood back up, her coat strap had come undone and as her coat opened up we were given a view of a college woman wearing a trench coat, running shoes and that’s it. Clean shaven in all the right areas with a body well suited as the center fold of a Playboy magazine. Realizing that we were looking at her and she knew we were looking she stayed real calm and cool and placed the items in her possession down, stood up and fixed her hair followed by adjusting her coat and retying the strap back around her coat. She then picked up her items and continued her shopping.

Needless to say the manager excused himself and proceeded to walk around the store keeping an eye mainly on her. Going as so far as to help bag her groceries and watch as she left the store and returning to the dormitories located just behind the store. Needless to say the man was in love. I on the other hand finished the rest of the day in a very good mood later wishing I had took her picture as the manager had done. But in all as time goes on when the bad days outnumber the good ones; I know memories like these will always cheer me up.

Time marches on and by now that girl may be around 25 years old it is safe to say that she will always have the memory of two guys with their mouth wide opened just staring at her. And having an overweight store manager attended to her every need while she was inside the store. As for me, well, let’s just say that I am not a State fan and leave it at that. After all it’s to be expected that activities like these happen a lot around this area.