The Girl with Fangs

 

by Pa Rock

Travelin' Fool

Day One of my big road trip has come and gone.  I left West Plains at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and was in Roeland Park, Kansas, at the home of my youngest son and his family at around 12:30 in the afternoon.  The highlight of the day was getting to see and visit three of my six grandchildren:  Olive and Sully who live with their parents in Roeland Park, and Sebastian who has recently relocated from Oregon to the Kansas City area.  I will be visiting Sebastian's younger brother and sister, Judah and Willow, later this week in Oregon.

The most interesting sight that I saw along the way north yesterday was a young lady who was working the register at a convenience store a few miles south of Kansas City.  She was efficient at her job and courteous, but her appearance was a bit off-putting, at least to this old goat.

The young lady, who looked like she could have been in high school, had some metal on her face which begged to be stared at.  There was a small, very fine chain hanging out of each of her nostrils (about a half-an-inch long) with a tiny medallion swinging at the end of each chain.  I didn't gawk as closely as I wanted,  but I had the sense they were some sort of tiny wind chimes.  

The nose-danglers, however, were not her most striking body enhancements.  She also had a pair of silver fangs (again about half-an-inch long) protruding from beneath her upper lip and extending down and over her lower lip.   There were two silver tacks on the upper lip that looked as though they were probably anchoring the fangs - which I guess makes them body piercings.

Danged kids!  In my day a discreet tattoo hidden beneath a shirtsleeve was scandalous!

I blame Trump.

My other discovery today involved food.  I was at the big Hy-Vee grocery store near where Tim and Erin and their family live to pick up a few items for the road, and when I went to the checkout a very nice lady offered to let me go in front of her since I only had a couple of things.  I declined, but thanked her for her courtesy, and we continued to chat.   As I watched her unload her groceries I noticed she had an item that I had not seen before - a "Cheez-It" brand frozen pizza.  I commented on how good it looked (the picture on the box), and she said she was buying it because it looked like something her seventeen-year-old son would like.  The checkout clerk, who looked like he was someone's seventeen-year-old son, chimed in saying that it was a new item and the store had given away samples last week - and they had been very popular with the customers.  He said it was delicious.

Maybe the stores in West Plains will be carrying "Cheez-It" pizza by the time I get home from my trip out west.  I would enjoy biting into one.  The girl with the fangs would probably have a hard time eating cheesy pizza.