Kettle River news

The next city council meeting is 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 15 at the Senior Center. Please note the change in the day.

Ma & Pa Kettle Days bingo is 1 p.m. Sunday, March 19 at the Senior Center.

My siblings and I got our worldly education early. My two sisters and I would go shopping after school. At the time we were ages 6, 7 and 8. I was in the middle. We went to a parochial school that was a few blocks from the downtown shopping area. My dad’s cousin, Charlotte, worked at one of the department stores in the shoe department. If we needed new shoes, we would go there after school and Charlotte would help us find the right shoes for us.

Then we would take them to the store office where the office worker would phone my mom and we would “charge” our purchase.

Charlotte told my mom that they had gotten a new salesperson. When the three of us came in to shop, the new person said to Charlotte: “There are some little kids wandering around. I will get rid of them real fast.” Charlotte then told her: “Those little girls know what they are looking for and they will not leave until they find it.”

Since my mom and dad owned a business in town, I am sure that is why they let us “charge” things after they called my mom.

We would find what we wanted and write down the price. Then we would tell Mom what we had found and go back the next day to buy it, again taking it to the office so they could call my mom.

My 5-year-old brother needed a new winter coat, so my 8-year-old brother took him shopping.

A salesman showed them a coat and my brother loudly told him: “That coat doesn’t fit him and you are a terrible salesman who would lie to a little kid just so you could make a sale.”

Apparently, another salesman heard him and intervened. If they went to that store again, they would make sure they never let the bad salesman even come near them.