I'LL let you in on a secret. I actually ordered a Clydesdale a month ago from a woman on e-Bay. It was a pre-order, but she had a 100 percent rating. She said the actual order would be in a few weeks; she had only gotten a dozen to start with and sold them all within a few days. The Clydesdales were going for astronomical prices on other e-Bay auctions and from the reports I was hearing, stores were all getting extremely limited quantities that were selling out in hours.
I had contacted her a few days ago and she said she was still waiting for the shipment, and even offered to cancel the order if I didn't want to wait. But I told her it was okay.
In Italy when you are stubborn and hard-headed you are called "Calabrese," apparently because the people from Calabria are stubborn to a fault. My mom always said I took after my dad, who was not Calabrese, but whose family was from Quarchina, whom Mom always said were almost as hard-headed. She'd glower at him when he got in a set mood (or glower at me when I did the same), and mutter, "Quarchinese!!!"
I was being Quarchinese today. James was at work, and I was on a mission. I took a list from the Webkinz site of stores in Marietta that sold Webkinz. Surely one of them had to have a Clydesdale. I wasn't planning to go far afield; I would start downtown and then work my way down Whitlock Avenue and past where it turned into Dallas Highway, hitting each of the six stores in turn.
There was nothing in the two stores located on the square in Marietta, but then I stopped at a little shop called Polkadot Kids on Whitlock Avenue. This is basically one of those cutesy clothing stores for small children, with things like baby gifts, too, but they did have a small rack of Webkinz. I didn't see a Clydesdale, but I asked when the proprietor wondered if I were looking for something special. She squinted at the rack and said that she must have sold out of them—then paused, reached her hand in the pile, and pulled out...Emily!
So I brought her home and logged her on; she makes an even dozen. No more.
At least till the collie comes out. This is me. I must have a collie. They'd toss me out of the Lassie Appreciation Society (if there was one) if I ignored that!
I toyed with canceling the other Clydesdale; of course wouldn't you know it: I got a notice from the e-Bay seller that it was shipping. So I'm going to keep it, but not run it online for the moment.
Emily at Last
