Shopping Local

Willem and I went to a toy store today. There are two types of toy stores: the Toys 'R Us kind, which give me that same queasy despair I feel upon walking into Chuck E. Cheese's, and the smaller independent stores, which sell lots of exquisite (and expensive) hand puppets and are owned/staffed by the kind of mild, odd folks who would probably wear a wizard hat without complaining.

The toy store we visited was the latter. While my purchases were being wrapped, the grandmotherly proprietor encouraged me to draw a local business coupon out of a jar by the register.

"What did you get?" asked an eager salesgirl who was standing just close enough to unsettle me. I unfolded the coupon and read it aloud:

"50 cents off an espresso drink at the Standing Ovation Cafe or one free music lesson."

One free music lesson! Really! Wouldn't you feel like a jerk going into a music store and buying a discount coffee rather than taking the lesson? I would.

But I couldn't find the coupon anywhere when I got home. Which is too bad, because I was thinking maybe I'd take a guitar lesson. It would be cool to finally learn to play the guitar that I asked for for my 30th birthday just in time for my 40th.