From Wordless to Speechless....

OK, Wordless Wednesday is over for me (even though it's only 6:31pm EST). I am now speechless!

I went to get my haircut this evening. I had a 5:00 appointment. I arrived about 20 minutes early and so I decided to go browse the quaint little consignment shop next door.

I've been there before. It is run by a lady who is probably in her 60's. She has a couple of people that work with her. She takes some VERY nice designer clothes....so occasionally it's a place you can find a treasure. It doesn't smell like some consignment shops. It is kept very tidy and really is kind of fun to visit.

I noticed the sign on the door said they closed at 5:00. It was 20 till. So, I thought I'd look for ten minutes or so then leave. The owner greeted me when I came in the door, but she was shutting her computer down. I don't know what she would have done if I found something. One helper was in the back room sorting clothes and straightening up there. The other helper was straightening display shelves in the second room of the store.

I browsed one side of the room. She straightened the other side then she walked out and back in very quickly (about 2 minutes). As I made my way around to the side where she just finished straightening, I saw the owner come in and stare mortified at the carpet. She said emphatically, "WHAT is THAT!?!?!" The other lady said, "It looks like BEACH SAND." (I should note here that this store is less than one mile from some of the whitest sandy beaches in North America.)

Hearing the commotion, the other back-room lady came to stare at the white stuff on the floor. I didn't pay too much attention as they all speculated about HOW the sand got there. Suddenly, as if they had been cued, they turned to me and the owner said, "Have YOU been at the BEACH!?!?" Translation: "How DARE you track white sand INTO my store 20 minutes before I am ready to close!" I said, "No." I wanted to say, "How could you make it clear through ONE room into a second room before getting sand on the carpet?" But it was not my place to join the consignment detectives.

I felt strange stares as these women checked out my feet to be sure I wasn't lying about where I had been. I was taken back to a time when I was a teen and felt as if it was my own mother questioning my where-abouts!

As I made my way to the front room to get OUT of the store...they surmised that MAYBE it came off the bucket of cleaning supplies that the one lady had when she was straightening up the room. But the owner kept saying, "NO that is BEACH SAND."

As I reached for the door to make my exit, I heard her say rather loudly, "Well, at least the cleaning crew is coming in the morning and they will vaccuum before we open!"

I REALLY had to resist the urge to stick my head back in the door, "Not only did I NOT bring the sand in...I didn't EVEN walk on that part of the floor." There is one thing I have learned in the last forty years....Come to think of it, it was probably my mother who taught me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all." While I do not always carry out this rule successfully, today I did.

Now, I want to go to the BEACH!!