A Tad Blue

Every winter, I spend a week with my dad’s mom in St. Louis. We visit my other relatives in town. I take her on any errands she’s put off until my stay. We eat at Stake ‘n Shake. A lot.

I love Steak ‘n Shake.

Stake ‘n Shake representative, are you reading this? Come to Virginia. We’re nice people, you’ll like it here.

But eating at Stake ‘n Shake can only take up so much of the day. Luckily, a couple of years ago, we discovered something we both enjoy doing.

We usually fill out our visit by going shopping.

But first you should know something about my grandma. She’s cheap. Really cheap. Not in the way I describe myself as cheap, in that I buy all my books from used book stores and drink water at restaurants. My grandma shops at dollar stores with discount meat.

I wish I was joking about this.

Not that my grandma doesn’t have the money. She just would never consider spending it on something trivial like non-expired food.

This works out in my favor when we go clothes shopping, as she know multiple stores that have amazing deals. They are all located in malls where 90% of the shops have closed, and they only keep the lights on dim. All the clothes are kept on huge racks, next to counters that once held jewelry or make-up stations, but now stand empty, adding to the abandoned feeling of the place.

And the dresses I find at these stores, always marked down to under ten dollars, make up the entirety of my summer wardrobe. Maybe the weather isn’t actually nice enough for me to start wearing them already, but I just couldn’t resist yesterday.

See it now?

Yes, my dress turned my skin blue.