8. Thoughts (cont.)

I passed the two-story stucco building that housed the City Offices, the Police Department, and, at the top of the stairs, the Library, and thought about the books waiting for me there. Next time I went to the library I’d get another of the stories about twins from other lands, maybe The Eskimo Twins this time. I’d always wanted to live in an igloo.

I passed Dougherty’s Drug Store and thought about ice cream cones. I could get an ice cream cone for a nickel. If Mrs. Dougherty was at the fountain, she would give me two scoops for my nickel. She did that for all the kids. If Mr. Dougherty waited on us, we would get only one. Mr. Dougherty was in the front of the store, so I went on by. I didn’t have a nickel anyway.

I passed several taverns and thought about how I was not supposed to walk close to the doors of taverns. They were not nice places. Men went there to drink after work, though not my father. My father didn’t waste money on alcohol, at home or in taverns. An older neighbor girl once told me about her mother’s going to get her father out of a tavern and how he was so drunk that he threw up on the hood of their car. But then she added, with great pride, “My father never mixes, though.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I was certain my dad didn’t mix, either.