Lights? Camera....

ACTION! A sudden thunderstorm hit Pembroke around 3 PM today and Claudia and I found ourselves without power and quite literally, In The Dark. The holiday weekend had been much busier than I expected so I was ready to call it a day; after all, who would stop to shop while it was pouring hailstones the size of golf balls? Just as I was wondering how hard it would be to turn everything 'OFF' before we left, Claudia said we should hang out a bit - maybe the lights would come back on. Plus we had our friend Amy from Brockton visiting who was waiting out the storm (and had brought us some fantastic cookies!) so it seemed like a good idea to kick back and squint at them both while I sampled the chocolate chip ones.

Right about when I moved on to the oatmeal raisins a car pulled into the parking lot and Claudia sat up straight - "See, here comes someone!" Sure enough a cute couple Nick and Kat had ventured down from West Roxbury to shop and were surprisingly undaunted by the lack of electricity. I dug up a couple of flashlights and they had a blast poking around like they were on an archaeological dig. They picked up a pair of salt & pepper shakers shaped like phonographs and an old camera and informed us they will definitely be back! While they were checking out another woman came in who was equally game to shop without the lights on. I had thought about offering everyone an "In The Dark" Discount but they didn't really seem to need any encouragement. HMMM, I thought, maybe we are on to something here... prices could be even LOWER without the overhead of 3 electrical meters to cover! But I'd miss some of the modern conveniences like, oh, THE CREDIT CARD MACHINE. Our 2nd shopper party happily unearthed a discounted accent table, a great spindly-leg kitchen table with a metal top, and 3 assorted painted chairs to use in her outdoor living space. Claudia and I managed to wedge it all into the middle of her mini-van, and I really hope it did not end up on top of her little daughter who was nestled in her carseat in the back row! As she was pulling out of the lot we headed back inside and wouldn't you know it, the lights came on! Just in time to shut them off again and head home to celebrate another Booming Weekend at Salvage Chic. Happy Memorial Day, everyone!