Dream Theater: A Gift for Mom

Photo by Apiln.co.uk

Christmas was coming and I still needed to get a gift for my mom. It had to be something special, because she'd been gone for over twenty years. But money was tight.

I went to Younkers, where their motto was "Satisfaction Always." It had always been her favorite store when she was alive.

But when I got there, the Younkers I remembered was gone. The store had fallen on hard times. Entire sections stood empty. Some hadn't been used in years. Piles of dead leaves gathered in the corners.

I kept shopping anyway, hoping for something that would be just right. Then I found a gray long-sleeve t-shirt that came with a special bleach pen you could use to write on it. I'd personalize the t-shirt for her. She'd love it.

I went home and spread the shirt out on a table and started to write. "Merry Christmas to the best mom," I started. "Not just the best mom in town, or the state of Iowa, or even the United States, but the best mom in the whole world." 

The pen was hard to handle. The writing didn't turn out as neatly as I'd hoped. The bleach soaked into the fabric, making everything impossible to read. Soon, where my message was supposed to be, there was only an ugly bleached square. 

I couldn't give this to her. I wondered what to do. Then I remembered the Younkers motto. "Satisfaction Always."

I'd take the shirt and pen back to the store. I'd complain that the pen hadn't worked the way it was supposed to. I'd get my money back, and I'd buy something for her somewhere else.