Them There's Fifteen Semdy Five

There used to be a store called "Allure" at the corner of Rice and 610 that I would visit at least once a weekend. This store is I mean exactly like a store would be if I owned one. No effort to the "merchandising". Just stuff sitting around everywhere on a cement floor. Some parts of the floor were painted creatively with vines and flowers, fleur d'lis, but most wasn't.. just plain, slick cement. Treasures like old farmhousey whitewashed, blackwashed, yellowwashed furniture. Pine bookcases, pine hutches, old iron beds. It had loads and loads of "drieds".. arrangements created by this chubby gay guy that were eye popping, alluring, if you will. Messy and irreverent, just perfect. No stiff wire ribbon..just floppy, natural, and berry filled arrangements made from stuff you'd just run across in an East Texas pasture. There was a long, long old wooden worn out looking table where he'd work on his florals. Ribbon, great containers, scissors, moss, pussy willow, cattail...just absolutely strewn from one end to the other. I love love loved it. The gal that owned it was so pretty and artsy, but was hardly ever there and rumor had it that she had a coke habit and I don't mean cola. So her sister who was younger but so not like her, if you know what I mean, and the gay chubber ran the place most days. My friend Wuh and I referred to her simply as "Them There's". Hardly anything in the whole 15,000 sq. foot warehouse was priced. If it was, it was sky high (a reflection of the owners disposition I guess, argh argh) so as to force you to approach Them There's and either ask what the price was, or if she was really sure that this foot tall cement angel was really 375 smackers...At which point she would always look at me and say..."Well, them there er supposed to be 800.00 dollers, but my sister said I could knock some off, so I'll take 15.75." Or, better, "Themer 900.00 but I might could take sum off, I'll haf to call er tho". Wuh and I would always collaborate on what "deals" Them There's came up with on our recent sashay through that great "collection"(heap/pile) of goodies. The thing was, I wanted everything in the place because thems were right up my alley.. But as my Granny Strutton would say, "They're proud of their perties", so I mostly just walked through and drooled and tried to bargain with sweet, but well, grammatically challenged Them There's. I miss that place.