It was gone even before the storm hit. I managed to save a couple of bricks. When I gave my dad one, he looked at me and said “thank you”. That was all I needed to know I did the right thing. My mom had to ask me to do it. I don’t think Dad could have. It was weird not seeing it there. It had been a car shop forever. When I was a small child it was my grandfather’s car shop. My dad used to work there too, so naturally I was there all the time. I was never let in the garage part, but I could roam around the office all I wanted. If I looked pitiful enough, I could weasel my way into the garage, but I never really liked it. Everything was dark brown or black in there and very greasy. Most of the time it was very loud. I enjoyed the office most of all because I could sit at my grandfather’s desk while he worked and he had a constant flow of quarters. Behind his desk was my favorite thing in the world, a large gumball machine. He would hand me quarters, usually from under the desk, and I would get gumball after gumball and shove them all in my mouth. If I sat at his desk all I had to do was spin the chair around and I could reach the machine. Spin and chew, chew and spin, blow a bubble.
After my grandfather sold the shop, it was still a garage, just owned by some guy named Butch. But I was happy because I was getting older, and my afternoons were full, so I had less and less time to go to the garage and sit with my grandfather and chew on the gumballs from that gumball machine. It was still there and every time I went passed it I would remember my grandfather and that gumball machine. Then one day there were no cars in the garage, and then there was no garage, just a pile of wood and concrete and bricks. I stared at the lot and wondered what happened. The large sign on the corner of the street told me “coming soon, drug store”. Let me just say that what this town needed was another drug store. I was appalled, I was shocked, I was angry. That shop was a good memory for me and now it was gone so some drug store could come in to a small town that already had five.
Then the storm hit. My husband and I came back to our hometown after evacuating and didn’t recognize it. Most of the town was obliterated or damaged to the point of non-recognition. For a while there were no stores. Most of the businesses were south of the tracks. Eventually one of the two grocery stores that were still standing opened with a limited stock. There was one drug store left untouched, the drug store that sat on the lot where my grandfather’s shop used to be. I had to have medicine, so reluctantly I went in the store. I tried to get my bearings and remember where everything was. Where the cars used to be, shampoo and conditioner were on the shelves. Where my grandfather’s office was, a photo center stood. I saw the place I am sure the gumball machine used to be. Well, at least they got that right: the candy aisle.