An Old Memory Remembered, Shared, and Cherished

I was at a chili dinner tonight at Andy & Debra Todd’s house when I remembered a story that was told to me by an elderly woman at the local Aldie store of all places. To say the least it was unexpected but has been relived and enjoyed over and over since then.

I went to Aldie upon Heidi’s request to buy a watermelon this past summer when it was hot. She likes keeping a melon around. I don’t think I know anyone that actually gets more enjoyment out of a watermelon than she does. Seems to me it was middle of the afternoon when I went in the store and headed for the produce section on the right side as you enter. The entire lane was blocked with folks on the first stop through the store sorting through fruits and vegetables, talking, etc. There was a giant melon box on the left, my destination. It was flanked on both sides by shopping carts but I could see a lane where I could get in and get my watermelon if I went for it. So I slide past a few carts and said a few ‘scuse me’s' and just as I got to the box of melons the lady on the left turned in and cut me off because she was looking at her list more than anywhere else. When she finally looked up she saw me standing there she said half startled, “Oh I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention”. I told her that it was okay, that I was right where I needed to be. She looked down and noticed the melons and looked up at me and smiled. I started to sort through the box and the lady said something about there being some nice ones in there. “Yes ma’am, there are”. I chose a melon and turned to leave and my new acquaintance started telling me this story with a smile on her face…

“You know, when I was a little girl all the kids used to save up their money for the ice cream man when he came around. But not me. Every time I got a quarter or something I’d buy myself a watermelon. I’d wait for the man who sold watermelons. In the summer he came through town everyday driving a wagon and sometimes if I had enough money I’d get me a watermelon every day. And I just loved it! I remember hearing him hollering, you could hear him coming from way off hollering to everybody. I can hear him in my mind to this day. He’d say “Watermelons, watermelons, red to de rime, red to de rime'“, and I’d stop him and get me one. “ She hardly looked at me while she was telling the story. Now there was a light on her face that wasn’t there when we first spoke. She seemed transported back to that place and she took me with her. For a couple minutes I forgot I was in a grocery store and caught up playing the scene in my own head, all the details she described, a fantastic scene unfolding of a simple and powerful memory. I was completely charmed listening to her telling her story to me. “Oh goodness, I haven’t thought of that in years but I can remember it like it was yesterday” she said and smiled. I thanked her for sharing it with me and walked to the check out saying “Watermelons, watermelons, red to de rime, red to de rime” over and over in my head.

I must have replayed this powerful 5 minutes in my mind 100 times since then. I could almost draw pictures of the scenes the storyteller told me. I can imagine myself there in the story or maybe it’s that I just want to be. It’s a story about times that my grandparents would’ve lived through, times not that far away. It’s a scene so close I can almost touch it. Either way, it is now alive in my mind, a gift given from an unexpected friend, the lady that took me to see the watermelon man.

Life is good. MC