Songbird

George’s Grocery is the island’s oldest grocery store. It sits near the ferry docks, and is frequented mainly by older island residents who have been coming there since childhood. A historical marker plaque hangs outside, telling anyone who walks by and bothers to stop and read it all about the history of the small wooden building. The bell above the door rings as you enter, and you are the only one shopping this afternoon--the store is empty aside from the teenage boy behind the counter, who smiles at you when you enter. He’s reading a book, and you get the impression that business is usually slow. 

 

Against the wall under the front window are wooden crates of apples, oranges, and bananas. You walk down the aisles, not looking for anything in particular. At the back of the store, there’s a deli counter and a butcher case. In the former are containers of macaroni and cheese, jell-o, and coleslaw, each with a plastic spoon inside. A small table sits next to the counter, with a few mismatched plastic chairs and wooden stools. Above hangs a small chalkboard, where menu items are written in careful print. There’s a few sandwiches, a soup of the day, a garden salad.

 

Back at the front of the store, you stop to look at a display shelf of postcards and other trinkets and souvenirs. A small handwritten sign advertises that the postcards are on sale--four for fifty cents--but the faded paper of the sign itself seems to indicate that they’ve been on sale for quite some time. You decide to buy four to send to your family and friends, and spend some time lingering in front of the shelf as you pick them out. When you’ve finished, you fish two quarters out of your pocket and the boy behind the counter carefully places them in a small brown paper