Newscoma

I dreamed last night that I won a consolation prize after being in a contest of a bat whom I named Freddy. I don’t really know what I was competing for but I was very excited about coming in second place. I also have been dreaming a lot about lying in hammocks with people I like. These aren’t intimate sort of dreams, but there more about me just lying with these folks talking about things that interest us.

Dreams are odd.

I also dreamed of a small grocery store that used to be in Hoots called the Leadway. The presentation of my prize of Freddy the Bat was held at this store which has been out of commission for several years.

My grandparents lived about six houses down from this store when I was a kid and we would constantly walk down there to bug the owners and buy Fun Dip. Aww, bag of sugar, how you made my childhood festive.

The Leadway was a dark, small store that was actually quite wonderful. The cash registers were old and made a clack sound that can only be compared to the sound of a zombie duck walking through the house on hard wood floors. It was that kind of sound.

Homer and I would mosey up to the store and hang out with the our Uncle Deanie, who was just about the nicest man you would ever meet. He really was our uncle, but it was about 29 times removed and he usually would play with us while we hit sugar buzzes of astronomical proportions. The store did do deliveries until he sold it to another family, which I always thought was neat. Our mom told us we could not make orders to the store for candy, but every once in awhile, she would give them a call to bring something to the house.

Sometimes, my grandmother would call the Leadway and tell them to charge Homer and I lunch which was always a treat. We thought this was extremely fancy, so we would go to the meat department where they made sandwiches and ask for bologna and cheese on white bread, buy a bag of BBQ corn chips and top it off with a chocolate milk.

Good times and eating for an 8-year-old.

Before my mother died, I asked the owner of the store to order coffee-flavored Breyers ice cream as it was the only thing she could taste that she liked while she was on chemo. They kept it in stock for the duration of her illness.

There are good people here in Hoots.

Alas, chain markets killed the small grocery stores in the area. The Leadway is now a video store.