Franklin is so different now than how it was when I lived on Main Street. Believe it or not, there used to be three drug stores. Perry’s Drug Store was located on the right side of Main Street about midway between the square and the top of Town Hill. The Carolina Pharmacy and Angel’s Drug Store were both located on the left side of the street. The Carolina Pharmacy was almost directly across from Perry’s, and Angel’s was the last store on the left before the square.
My Mamaw was crippled with rheumatoid arthritis so pitifully she could not walk. Her knees and elbows were frozen in a bent position, and her fingers were all twisted. In those days she was called a shut-in, but she had the spirit of a warrior and carried on as best she could. Since my own Mama worked, Mamaw, bless her heart, was in charge of me. And, from the time she deemed my 6-year-old self responsible enough to get to the drug store and back, I was in charge of getting her medicines refilled.
Mamaw would give me a list, and off I would go, with Perry’s Drug Store being my destination. Sorta like a bee buzzing from flower to flower, I made sure nothing interesting on Main Street went unexamined. A 20-minute errand easily turned into more than an hour’s worth. At Perry’s, I would hand over the list and wait for the refills. I believe Mamaw was billed for the medicines, since I can’t imagine being trusted with more than my payment for running the errand, which was just enough money for ice cream.
Perry’s had a magazine rack at the front of the store, and there I would stand, eating ice cream, looking at magazines, and waiting on the medicines. No one ever chastised me or even acted as if it was unusual that I was rumbling through the merchandise. It was heavenly! Ice cream and all that literature. Maybe people didn’t mind used magazines back then.
Once, while I was exercising my freedom to roam Main Street when I had been sent to Perry’s, I found myself on the left side of the street and decided, spur of the moment, to change drug stores. I handed Mamaw’s list to the folks at The Carolina Pharmacy. The pharmacist there, who I’m sure was glad to get the business, called Perry’s to get the prescriptions so he could fill them. I remember looking at the bottles and thinking, “Hmmm, these look different from those I get from Perry’s,” but I didn’t argue, took the bag of medicines, lollygagged some more, and then went home.
In the meantime, Mr. Perry had called my Mamaw, wondering why she had taken her business across the street. Had he done something wrong? All of that was news to her, but nothing could be done to rectify the situation until I decided to go on home – just so that I could turn around and undo what I had done.
It took some doing to get all of that straightened out. But, in my defense, I had not been impressed with The Carolina Pharmacy, and planned on switching back to Perry’s next time anyway.