There’s a hardware store down the road that I go to for basic stuff: screws, construction timber, glue, whatever. They’ve never been especially friendly with me. It’s a place for contractors and locals. Which is fine, normal, even. I’m not especially normal so I don’t expect to be treated familiar. But today I went in there to order some metal roofing for the extension of my barn roof and I knew that I had struck out because Sarah wasn’t there. She’s the only person who works there who knows how to order roofing and she doesn’t work weekends, as it turns out. 

But still, I recalled her name and when the lady working had hesitancy about ordering it, I knew it was because Sarah wasn’t working that day and she was the only one who knew how to order special roofing. So we had a good laugh and an apology about it and I went home with nothing. 

I also stopped at the coop down the road to look for some bug-bite cream for Robinia and they didn’t have that either. Further, there was a new person working there who didn’t recognze me. So that was a fairly high-to-low kind of trip out of the house when it comes to being a usual at these joints.