By Jewel Grace, November 12, 2020 — One day in around 1997, my nine-year-old niece came to visit me in my apartment in South Philadelphia. Boy, what a day that was! I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Noelle previous to this visit, so it was quite a surprise for me. My apartment was kind of cluttered so I watched as Noelle picked up pieces of jewelry, different wigs, and a boa, playing dress-up. She pranced around making various poses, giggling all the while. Then, we went to my job as it was a workday for me.
I worked at a small retail store called Earth Bound. We carried unscented lotions and we had a huge circular rack in the middle of the store filled with perfume and every scent you could imagine. When we got there, of course, Noelle when right up to the cash register and pretended that she was the cashier. I was like, “Oh my! How can I ever handle this child?”
In the end, that didn’t matter. We both had a great time, even though I’m sure I was the only one who remembered it.