Things happen at Wally World.
It's not all like what has been going around in the emails with all of those photos of weird people. Everyone has a story if you just give them a chance. I have met some really great people there:
The Lady:
There was this well dressed lady who asked me if she had to buy a whole bag of grapes once. I replied that they were sold by the pound and that she could take as many or as few as she wished, and then I handed her a plastic bag to put her grapes in. She walked away toward the scale and I turned away. A few minutes later she approached me and handed me the bag that she had taken the grapes out of. There were four grapes left in the bag! I asked her if she was sure she didn't want the last four and she said that she could not use them. Go figure. Ok, that was one of the weird people.
Willy:
Then there was Willie, a tall good looking man I met who was wearing a battered army fatigue jacket with a Buffalo Soldier badge on his sleeve. He was with Pattens 3rd Army in Europe and with the African American Buffalo Soldiers. He looked like he was in his sixties but he was 84. He saw a lot of fighting. His unit was there at one of the concentration camps. He saw the horror. He was also in Korea where he was the only survivor of an attack on Pork Chop hill. It was night as they approached the hill. Their route was through a rice paddy. Spot lights came on and they were caught in the beams. 39 men died around him. A plane flew over the next day and one of the crew saw him move. He was rescued. Heroes walk amongst us.
The Sarge:
The Sarge was on one of those motorized scooters but even so, you could tell he was a tall guy. He was wearing a well preserved bomber jacket with his Sergeant pin and some other medals on his chest. He also was in WWII and in Korea. He was captured in Korea and held in a camp run by the Chinese. There was this little Korean Sergeant in the camp that wanted to cut off our heroes hand but finally settled for only a finger. Whack and it was done. The Sarge heard the commandant enter right after this happened. He held up his bloody stub and told the commandant “I know your name rank and outfit and you had better go ahead and kill me because when this war is over, you'll hang.”. This commandant was educated here in the good ole US of A and he didn't hesitate. He grabbed the little Sergeant, that had done the deed, and dragged him out into the center of the compound, made him kneel down and then shot him in the back of the head. He made a statement that anyone who did anything without his direct orders would suffer the same fate. Our Hero was also put in the Iron Maiden a couple of times but once it was for 45 days and he was close to the end. The Commandant found out about it and got him out and into a hospital. When our Sergeant was released and had to give his report, I asked him, how did he write up the commandant? He said he wrote a favorable report since the man had saved his life.
Cajun Joe:
I was putting up some grapes one morning and a soft, very southern, voice asked me from behind, "Yall git them grape frum Luuzianna?" I turned around and took in this older, short and stocky little guy with a twinkle in his eye and told him, "Nope got these from Georgia." I had seen him someplace before and asked him where. He told me he was in the papers a while back and that everyone called him Cajun Joe. He was picking up fruit and cooking supplies for a few of his friends. Cajun Joe goes around every day and visits all the veterans in the local homes here in the Henderson area. He sits with them, talks with them, brings them fruit and runs them around if they have places to go. We have a "Gathering Place" here for the elderly to meet and play cards, plan road trips and to just visit. There are days when the Vets go for a day to hang out and Cajun Joe does the cooking for them. He is a retired Vet himself.
The Birdman:
I had heard that there was a gentleman that often came in and asked for banana boxes. They called him the Birdman. I didn't have time at the moment to ask why. A week or so later a tall old guy came in and asked for some banana boxes and I set him up with some. He told me he was called the Birdman. Here was my chance, so, I asked. "Now why do they call you that? "He told me that he worked a crane at Whirlpool before he retired and it was way up high. The type that ran on rails several stories up. Way up with the birds that live up in the girders. He actually would rescue birds that would build nests up on the tracks. Well. That was two good reasons but the best was that he could imitate bird calls. I told him how much of a pleasure it was to meet him and would he do a bird call for me. He asked which bird so I chose the Cardinal. I thought he would do a little call and that would be it. He puckered up and let fly with his call and it was a dead on match for the cardinal, not just the standard call but all the little side calls that they make. It was loud enough to fill the store with bird song. He has a gift and I would have loved to get him out to Audubon park for one of the bird shows, but, he said he was moving to South Carolina in a couple of days so that was that. He was a real gentleman
There was this well dressed lady who asked me if she had to buy a whole bag of grapes once. I replied that they were sold by the pound and that she could take as many or as few as she wished, and then I handed her a plastic bag to put her grapes in. She walked away toward the scale and I turned away. A few minutes later she approached me and handed me the bag that she had taken the grapes out of. There were four grapes left in the bag! I asked her if she was sure she didn't want the last four and she said that she could not use them. Go figure. Ok, that was one of the weird people.
Willy:
Then there was Willie, a tall good looking man I met who was wearing a battered army fatigue jacket with a Buffalo Soldier badge on his sleeve. He was with Pattens 3rd Army in Europe and with the African American Buffalo Soldiers. He looked like he was in his sixties but he was 84. He saw a lot of fighting. His unit was there at one of the concentration camps. He saw the horror. He was also in Korea where he was the only survivor of an attack on Pork Chop hill. It was night as they approached the hill. Their route was through a rice paddy. Spot lights came on and they were caught in the beams. 39 men died around him. A plane flew over the next day and one of the crew saw him move. He was rescued. Heroes walk amongst us.
The Sarge:
The Sarge was on one of those motorized scooters but even so, you could tell he was a tall guy. He was wearing a well preserved bomber jacket with his Sergeant pin and some other medals on his chest. He also was in WWII and in Korea. He was captured in Korea and held in a camp run by the Chinese. There was this little Korean Sergeant in the camp that wanted to cut off our heroes hand but finally settled for only a finger. Whack and it was done. The Sarge heard the commandant enter right after this happened. He held up his bloody stub and told the commandant “I know your name rank and outfit and you had better go ahead and kill me because when this war is over, you'll hang.”. This commandant was educated here in the good ole US of A and he didn't hesitate. He grabbed the little Sergeant, that had done the deed, and dragged him out into the center of the compound, made him kneel down and then shot him in the back of the head. He made a statement that anyone who did anything without his direct orders would suffer the same fate. Our Hero was also put in the Iron Maiden a couple of times but once it was for 45 days and he was close to the end. The Commandant found out about it and got him out and into a hospital. When our Sergeant was released and had to give his report, I asked him, how did he write up the commandant? He said he wrote a favorable report since the man had saved his life.
Cajun Joe:
I was putting up some grapes one morning and a soft, very southern, voice asked me from behind, "Yall git them grape frum Luuzianna?" I turned around and took in this older, short and stocky little guy with a twinkle in his eye and told him, "Nope got these from Georgia." I had seen him someplace before and asked him where. He told me he was in the papers a while back and that everyone called him Cajun Joe. He was picking up fruit and cooking supplies for a few of his friends. Cajun Joe goes around every day and visits all the veterans in the local homes here in the Henderson area. He sits with them, talks with them, brings them fruit and runs them around if they have places to go. We have a "Gathering Place" here for the elderly to meet and play cards, plan road trips and to just visit. There are days when the Vets go for a day to hang out and Cajun Joe does the cooking for them. He is a retired Vet himself.
The Birdman:
I had heard that there was a gentleman that often came in and asked for banana boxes. They called him the Birdman. I didn't have time at the moment to ask why. A week or so later a tall old guy came in and asked for some banana boxes and I set him up with some. He told me he was called the Birdman. Here was my chance, so, I asked. "Now why do they call you that? "He told me that he worked a crane at Whirlpool before he retired and it was way up high. The type that ran on rails several stories up. Way up with the birds that live up in the girders. He actually would rescue birds that would build nests up on the tracks. Well. That was two good reasons but the best was that he could imitate bird calls. I told him how much of a pleasure it was to meet him and would he do a bird call for me. He asked which bird so I chose the Cardinal. I thought he would do a little call and that would be it. He puckered up and let fly with his call and it was a dead on match for the cardinal, not just the standard call but all the little side calls that they make. It was loud enough to fill the store with bird song. He has a gift and I would have loved to get him out to Audubon park for one of the bird shows, but, he said he was moving to South Carolina in a couple of days so that was that. He was a real gentleman
Wheel Chair People The Whistler:
You could hear him anywhere in the store. He was whistling Christmas Carols and he was doing a really great job of it. The music sounded much better than what ever was being piped in at the time. It would fade a bit as the Whistler turned and moved in a direction that was away from you and then it would grow in volume as who ever it was, moved toward you. This went on for 30 or 40 minutes and we, in the produce section, were wondering who this person was that could whistle so well. We would think he, or she, was about to come around a corner so we could put a face to the sounds, but then it would fade again, and move away. Finally, the whistler was in the next isle over and was coming around the corner. It was a man in a wheelchair! He was creating music as easily as breathing. Until he reached the grapes, that is. Still whistling, he grabbed a hand full from a bag, popped them into his mouth and the music that had been filling the store, died. |
|