Whenever a muddy taped box was plopped down on our front porch, I struggled to decipher my aunt Edie’s scrawl on the custom’s form. (Under no circumstances were we allowed to open the parcel until mom got home from working as a shelf- filler at Ben’s hardware store.) I had to be content with reading and rereading the custom’s form, a challenge because my aunt had a terrible scrawl.

From: Miss Edie Millar, #301, 400 West 23rd Street, New York, USA.
To: Mrs. John Davie, RR #2, Dunsville, Ontario, Canada.

Used women’s cotton pajamas —-0
Child’s handy plastic cowgirl jacket, with fringe —-$10
5 boys stripped T-shirts, blue and green (on sale) —-$10
Netted bathing suit for girl, size 12 —-$5
Used woman’s shoes, small claw heels, size 7 —-0
2 girl’s blouses with tied sleeves, size 8 and 14 —-$6
Newsletter from Macy’s (starring me, ha ha!) —-free
Women’s used slip and panties (5) —-0
Girl’s summer dresses, size 5 and 8, as is —-$6

Edie never married and lived alone in a small apartment in New York. Her first and only job was working at Macy’s proudly overseeing the bins of hard-to-sell items. She spent her spare cash on us—her family in Canada—having dug through the bins to find good stuff. Which, thankfully, she did. Cowgirl jacket and blouse with tied sleeves! Yipee.

~ Melodie Corrigall

Printed in Skink Beat Review, May 2021. http://skinkbeatreview.com/may-issue-1-2