when I was five
in Deafie’s cramped candy store
around the corner from where I lived
in the Bronx
shadowed by the rattling El.
We called him Deafie because
he was deaf.
I myself was called four-eyes.
It was a cruel time.
So for ten cents I bought a comic book
where Little Lulu and her boyfriend Tubby
experience a terrible big snowstorm,
such a serious weather event
they have to tunnel under the snow for blocks,
cross streets, turn corners
to get to the grocery store.
Many years later when
I met my husband
and we compared favorite comic books
I said I loved when Little Lulu got snowed
in and he said yes and remembered
she bought milk when she finally got to the store.
We fell in love.
Right then and there I wrote
to a comic book store in New York
I am trying to find this
Little Lulu comic, I said
don’t know the date, don’t recall the cover,
but here’s the story.
The proprietor looked through
his stash and mailed
it to us in exchange for $100
wrapped in cellophane
and it sits today on my knickknack shelf;
my husband and I sometimes take it down
to read because we still share
Little Lulu moments.
