After having
my hair cut by Stuart at Hairspray Salon on Koko Head in
Kaimuki, I usually walk over to the vegetable stand on 12th Avenue between
Waialae and Harding (parking stall for Kaimuki Taxi) to pick up what looks good or what I might happen to need at the moment.
Invariably I find
myself taking a quick peek at Tam’s Shoe Repair Shop. Not that anything ever changes inside. Heaven forbid. The same archeology of cardboard boxes,
plastic bags, suitcases (What is it with suitcases at a shoe repair shop?)…
The narrow (and narrowing)
path between counter and storage rack…
The constant fluorescent light fixture beating
its rays over the same jumble of shoes year after year…
In the window the same lone
brown shoe lies on its side forever. Old dust…
But wait,
there is something new. I missed it at first. Go back outside and check out the window again. A
new green poster brightly announces a 50’s 60’s 70’s Oldies Bash Sock Hop
2012 at Pacific Beach Hotel! How could I
have missed it?
Other than
that one item, though, nothing has changed.
So I must be checking for my own peace of mind, making sure it’s all
still there.
One day it’s going to go “poof!”
and be gone forever.
