A Can Opener?

“seekonk”ers at heart – class of ’88

“Where are we going?”  I ask my Peeps as we pile our full bellies into The Beast.

“What are we going to do?” “I thought we were going to go back to the town?” “That food was so good!” “Kim, what did you buy?”  “I think I feel sick.”

The voices are filling The Beast, we hear each other, but don’t answer each other.  No one cares.  The always recognizable voices are enough.

“OK peeps, but where are we going?”  I ask again as I back The Beast out of the Post Office parking lot.

“Well you can’t go THAT way!”  Kerry points to a one way sign and cackles her Kerry Cackle.

Unassisted with any directions, I drive slowly and make my way back to the main road and take a right.

I start to accelerate when I hear “What’s that?  That looks cute!”  Instantly, my foot moves from the gas to the brake and I make a sharp left into the parking lot and swing into a parking lot.

A chorus of laughter and “WOOOS” come from my 4 Peeps.

In no rush, we all gather our belongings.  Crystal answers a phone call from home and exits The Beast for some quiet.  The rest of us take our sweet time getting out.  One of us is fixing her hair, one is counting her money, two are checking texts, and who knows what else.

“Do you need a can opener?” a woman asks as I am walking up the stairs into Coventry Crafts Gifts and Decor, the store that we had happened upon.

“Excuse me?”  sure I didn’t hear her correctly.  A can opener?

“Do you need a can opener?”  she repeats with warmth in her voice that makes me glad we jerked into her parking lot.

“A can opener?”  I’m still not getting it.

“Yeah, it took you all so long to get out of that car I thought maybe you needed a can opener!”  she chuckles at her own wit and smile back.  I like this lady.

Slowly, we all make our way inside.

“Where are you all from?”  our new friend asks.

“Connecticut, upstate New York.”  Kim and I answer.

I finish off, “Those two are from Washington.” pointing to Kerry and Crystal

“Oh that’s a long way!”

“OH, NO… DC.  Washington, DC.  And we have one from Rhode Island.”

“So all east coasters!” she proclaims proudly knowing us.

We wander through the store, picking up pottery, jewelry, random knick knacks.

She periodically chimes in with comments that make us know we belong here.

“a weekend of shopping, eating laughing, and drinking”

“my husband used to love to drink coffee out of one of those big mugs”

“everything here is locally made by people in the area”

“those are cape cod stones are shined and crafted  into necklaces”

Crystal and I find ourselves making purchases.  Not because I really needed a necklace or because Crystal needed a jar of Cranberry Conserve but really because we liked this lady and she deserved our business.

If you ever find yourself in Marstons Mills, Barnstable, MA, stop in and say hi to this friendly, welcoming lady.  She’s a gem.

Just like my 4 Peeps.