My 2 Second Shelf Life

Just 'Cause I'm Sentimental


Image Source Parkdale Photo Gallery

Parkdale is my old neighbourhood.
The above picture is of the old bus station diner and the Edgewater Hotel.
When I look at it, I am immediately shot back to my childhood.
That corner was one of the two corners that I used to wait for my mother to come home from work when I was a child.
I used to walk to either to Lansdowne and Queen to watch her get off the Landsdowne Bus or I used to wait at the Greyhound Bus Station Depot to wait for her to get off the King Car at Queen Street. At both corners there were diners.

At Roncesvalles and Queen, the diner had a waitress named Margaret who wore her red hair in curls on the top of her head with a little bow. Her eyebrows were drawn on and she was a little on the chunky side.

Margaret was kind to me.

While waiting for my mother, Margaret would give me hot chocolate in the winter and pop in the summer.
She never charged me.
She knew through our conversations that I was waiting for my mother and she took care of me.

She looked out for me.

Me, in my too short pants that my Tetka Ljuba made for me from the odd pieces of fabric left over from her factory job, and my brown winter jacket with the broken zipper, my house key hanging from a string around my neck.

As an adult I see what Margaret must have seen when she saw me come in every weekday.
Back in the ‘70’s, people still looked after children.
Margaret would chat with me and pass the time until my mother would step off of the King streetcar.

My mother never met Margaret.
I never told her about Margaret.
Margaret was my secret friend and took care of me.

Free of charge.

Thanks Margaret, wherever you are.

God Bless you.