Once in a blue moon it would be too hot to bask in the sun on the beach. We did one of two things:  swim in cold, cold water, or drive an hour to the mall.  I never came away from a mall trip with anything.  My budget was tight.  But, my mom and I could always look, anyway.  She found a terry cloth nightgown, a soft lavender color.  She bought this, and we named it “the garment.”  At home, that was all she wore every day of the week, for years.

Then the inevitable happened.  My dad was missing!  It was a huge mall that was air-conditioned.  We searched for him forever, it seemed.  A light bulb went into my head.  “I know where he is!”

We walked and walked to the location.  My dad was there sitting on a stool and enjoying a hot fudge sundae.  He got a little heat from my mom due to our massive mall search for him. He did not care to shop, but he did care about hot fudge sundaes.  We never “lost” him again at that mall.  We shopped around, buying little if anything.  But, we did always know where he was when he went missing.  He was sitting on a stool enjoying a hot fudge sundae.