1: Penny Licking Good

The penny licks, anywhere but the forefront of the booth, gleamed with the condensed pipe water that was dripping from the atrophied wood. Resembling test tubes and beakers, my face became distorted in the reflection of the murky glass. No longer in use, the abandoned containers looked like old men with their cracks of wisdom and their stains of age. Re-imagined, the fake flavor that I cannot taste, the melted stickiness which my fingers can feel and the ice cold frost like 5am winter morning brought the penny licks into the future, into my youth.

2: Bike Beggar

It was his bike. The faded blue color looked like a years old Play-Doh, crusty and hard to look at. It was his bike. The crooked wheels that made it impossible to move forward. It was his bike. The silver sides spotted with rust but with permanent stickers of the 1954 Buick Skylark. It was his bike, the Grieder Flyer Tricycle. It was his bike. The leftover scraps from his older brother who was at the “mature” age of 12. It was his bike, the bridge between 3-5. It was his bike, the last resort aside from the Yo-Yo gut. It was his bike. The soon to be shelved, once a dream, now a reject bike. It was his bike, the adult toy of the playground now a nuisance of the shed. It was his bike, a knee height tripper. It was his bike. A classy artifact that made it to the future but died in the past. It was his bike. It was his bike.

3: Marbles

Red, Yellow, Green. Marbles and marbles and marbles hopped. White tipped fingers, moved hot with aggression. The minor flick between the yellowing nail and the pink hued skin worked the orbs of color.  Out, out, out. Win, win, win. The germ-infested marble from the sweet little kisses of luck flew forward. Out, out, out went the green striped marble. Win, win, win. The lip biting anticipation of what happens next. Win, win, win. 

4: Laced-Up Laces

These were her socks. Her shoes. Her youth. The white frilled edges of the fraying wool socks were ironed down to the thickness of a piece of paper. Her black and white Oxford-Saddle shoes straddled either side of the socks making a perfect pair for a perfect girl.  Looking at the creased toes, I know they were worn during the marathon of I Love Lucy, and frantically stomped in during the appearance of Elvis in Lakeland, and used as a distraction from softball practice in gym. These socks and shoes were anything but traumatized and instead lived the dream that I would hope for one day.

5: Fort Fun A & J

Holding hands with my moldy stuffed animal cat, meow meow swung through the dusty air as I spun around in circles. When I stopped, the steel sign was no longer a thing of the present but instead of the past, the penny licks were stock piled in my candy striped bag, the bike framed behind my eyes, the marbles forced down the length of my jean jacket pockets, the socks and shoes adorning me in my dreams and the old antique store held the future’s memories and I had a premonition that everyone’s past in this store would become my past as well.