That little local market was run by a husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Frasier, and they knew just about everyone in the neighborhood. Their store had the usual limited selection of grocery items, but they did have a meat and cheese counter. I can still remember when they would run hamburger on special 3#s for $1.00. Yup, that’s right, three pounds for one dollar!! Mr. Frasier ground the meat himself and it was good quality stuff. They also had big rounds of longhorn cheddar cheese that was about the same price as ground beef. I loved to go into the store and watch them cut a big slice off those rounds of cheese and wrap it up in butcher paper. Sometimes they would slip me a free sample too!
Frasier’s Market was on the main street in Bloomington, Valley Blvd. That was also where the school buses stopped for the neighborhood. It was about 4 or 5 blocks from our house and I was allowed to walk there all by myself. One day my mother asked me to walk to the store for her. She gave me a note and told me to give it to Mrs. Frasier.
I was SO insulted. I was 8 years old and had been reading for years!! Did my mother think I was stupid? I took the note but I did not give it to Mrs. Frasier. I knew what it said and I looked all over the store shelves until I found the precise item. I made the purchase and headed home.
I was so proud as I gave the bag to my mother. She looked inside and then looked at me kind of funny and asked if I had given the note to Mrs. Frasier. I had to admit I had not...BUT I proudly pointed out the lettering on the package of Scot White Dinner Napkins, “See it says right here…SANITARY, just like it says on the note.” I didn’t know what mother was laughing at until some years later, but I don’t think she ever sent me to the store again for that particular product.
That’s me on the right at about 8 years old.
