Roman Roadwalkers Adventures

August 21, 2008

Pink Mules and Penny Candy Memories

Today was fun, or at least that is the way it worked out.

First off for some insane reason I decided to participate in a postcard exchange. I live in a small town and no one had any postcards. Called all the big stores, little stores, finally in one little mom and pop drug store they found a small display stashed in the back covered in dust and faded by sun. So off I went to Ward's Pharmacy to look at old postcards.

So I get there and they show me the display. It's tiny but the cards were nice. You had to go down a couple layers to find ones that were not faded, but even then, they were nice. I picked what i wanted and the guy told me that because they were old, just give him a dollar and consider it done.

Now I was riding with Mary, my home aide. She wanted to look at a few things so I decided to give in to a bout of nostalgia. So here goes.

Ward's Pharmacy is about the only store on our town square that has been there longer than me. As a kid my parents would take me to town and we would shop. First we would stop at Woolworth. I would look at the toys, then go to the back to see the fish and birds. If it was a special day such as my birthday i might even get a new toy from the ladies who worked the store. Sometimes mom and dad would let me stay there to play with the ladies while they went to stores I might not enjoy.

Next we were of around the corner to Rose's Department Store. It was a small little store but it felt big. You could get lost in small aisles, try to sneak up the stairs to see what was up there, or hang out and hope mom would spring for a bag of fresh popcorn. If you were really lucky you could get a small bag free for being good.

Around the corners again and off to Ward's. Ward's has a soda shop. Icecream, sodas, floats, chips, candy, all kinds of stuff. They had booths but as a kid I wanted the big metal trimmed stool just like in a diner.

As a teen, Ward's was the place to be. I'd walk to town every Thursday to see the new comic books, get either a Lemon Sour or Pink Mule to drink and sit at the fountain and visit. There was Ms Annie who did the sodas and if he was not too busy, Mr. Ward would pull out the photo albums and we would talk until I had to go home. Mr Ward always kept the store full of old displays, kept odd products on the shelves so that the place looked like a moment in time frozen.

Ward's is about the only place left. All the other old stores are gone. Now we have a pizza place, music store and a Christian Bookstore on one side and the other side is JC Pools and a few other places. We have a fountain, and Old Dutchie to watch over things. I miss it sometimes.

Well back to today. I bought me a Mule. They dropped the Pink part. It's basically cherry lemonaid but more tart. Mary had to try one too. And she bought a bag of penny candy. It's not a penny anymore but she still got a nice bag for her buck. Miss Annie is still there. She just turned 98 and has trained her grandson to be a soda jerk. Mister Ward is long gone, but his family still runs the pharmacy. They have a few modern things but mostly the same old displays, odd bits and such are still there. It was a lovely memory shared with a new friend.

So that set the tone for my day.

God bless
RRW / Patrick

posted by Roman Roadwalker @ Aug 21, 2008 | 0 comments | |