It鈥檚 a few days before Christmas, and independent producer Erica Heilman took her recorder along to Ocean State Job Lot in St. Johnsbury to record some last-minute shopping.
Ocean State Job Lot is my favorite store. It鈥檚 a place where you can get a snow scraper, a rug and some pickled beets all in one place. They have the best snacks in town, and they鈥檙e really cheap, like a bag of ginger snaps for a dollar. They don鈥檛 sell produce there, but I could swear that once, I saw a basket of three lemons in the cracker section.
Every year, the week before Christmas, I meet my friend Clare Dolan at Job Lot, and we Christmas shop.
Me: 鈥淐oming here, any time of year, you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen when you come to Job Lot.鈥�
Clare Dolan: 鈥淩ight. Well one reason is, it鈥檚 that kind of store that gets in things from other stores that have either fallen off the truck, or been鈥� the mystery of Job Lots is, 鈥榃here does this stuff come from? Did somebody make a deal with someone? Did they fall off the back of the truck, or they鈥檙e surplus鈥�?鈥� We don鈥檛 know! But that鈥檚 part of the mystery of what makes Job Lots amazing and mysterious and alluring.
鈥淔or me it brings me a little bit back to like, the old department store excitement when I was a kid, and we鈥檇 go to downtown -- I lived outside Chicago, and we鈥檇 go to downtown Chicago to the giant department store. Now this was before malls. And everything was in a single store that had many different areas. So you鈥檇 be like, in the women鈥檚 clothes area, then you鈥檇 go to the kitchen appliance area and in the old sexist society days, Dad would be down in the automotives area. So it鈥檚 a little bit referencing that in my psyche.
鈥淪ome of the stuff doesn鈥檛 鈥� You have to look, like, what is the price? How much does this cost? You don鈥檛 know! Like over here, over around the corner, there鈥檚 a shelf that has these ceramic pots for plants, and it just says 鈥業ndoor Pots鈥� on the shelf, and there鈥檚 no price. There鈥檚 no stickers on the pots. There鈥檚 nothing. It鈥檚 just letting you know what that item is.鈥�
Me: 鈥淥h, look at this.鈥�
Clare: 鈥淥h, my God. OK. This is another reason why Job Lots is great. There鈥檚 a giant 鈥� Erica we have to describe this for your listening audience, it鈥檚 the Last Supper. It鈥檚 a giant, gilded framed sculpture encased in like, a frame of the Last Supper. And it鈥檚 gilded in some way that I can鈥檛 describe.鈥�
Job Lot Radio: 鈥淒o you like 鈥榝ree?鈥� Most of us do!鈥�
Me: 鈥淚 have a memory of seeing a basket of lemons in the store. Have you seen that?鈥�
Clare: 鈥淣o.鈥�
Clare is a really slow shopper. So I left her at the Last Supper and I walked around to talk with some other people. I found a mother and daughter shopping in the Pop Tarts area. They didn鈥檛 want to be named.
Mother: 鈥淚f I get the vaccine and I have a reaction, I鈥檇 rather be right where my doctor knows me.鈥�
Me: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 totally sensible.鈥�
Mother: 鈥淚t鈥檚 scary. We do come up with something sensible.鈥�
Daughter: 鈥淚 think Gov. Scott was on top of it from the day one.鈥�
Mother: 鈥淎nd we listened to what he had to say.鈥�
Daughter: 鈥淢asks, social distancing and hand washing. Those three things have made a difference for Vermont. I鈥檓 not sure about the interstate signs coming into Vermont everywhere, 鈥榗ause I think that was kind of expensive. But I think that Vermont has done it the right way.鈥�
Mother: 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e on top of it. I think people, when they listen to the governor, they took to heart what he said and tried to obey it.鈥�
Me: 鈥淪o, what are you sad about?鈥�
Mother: 鈥淎ctually we get out once in a while. But鈥� I don鈥檛 like it, but it鈥檚 livable.鈥�
Job Lot Radio: 鈥淲e are now accepting donations for 3 Square Meals鈥︹��
This is Wanda from Derby.
Me: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 different for you?鈥�
Wanda: 鈥淵ou know, eliminating your space to visit with family and friends. It鈥檚 definitely different. It definitely makes you feel isolated and secluded. My parents, for example, are older. They don鈥檛 want to see us really. And they鈥檙e not savvy with the internet, so we can鈥檛 even really Facetime. It makes it hard.
鈥淚 work at a liquor store and then I also cook, so I鈥檓 in public, working, and I鈥檓 exposed to so much that I could go home and expose it to my children, so on. And that again, that鈥檚 another issue my parents don鈥檛 want me around, because I鈥檓 exposed to so much, that I could turn around and expose them and make them fatally ill.鈥�
Clare finished her shopping and left. I stayed a while longer. To be honest, people didn鈥檛 look very happy at Job Lot this year. And it wasn鈥檛 just the fluorescent lights. It鈥檚 been a terrible year.
But on my second pass through the cracker aisle, I saw it. On the lowest shelf, between the almond milk and a box of canned herring, there were lemons. Six lemons. Like a tiny Christmas miracle.
It was getting dark when I went outside and it was starting to snow. There was a guy in a truck at the far corner of the parking lot doing donuts.
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