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From: Elayne Rieck
Milwaukee, Wis.
Over thirty years ago my husband and I ran a small antique store a block north of a Holiday Inn in Milwaukee. Many famous people stayed there and the proprietor always told them of our shop. One afternoon three ladies breezed in, and I mean that literally. They flew around picking things to buy faster than I could wrap them. One finally wrote a check and I asked for identification, as usual. Her name was Cash and I thought to myself how apropos for the many things they had bought. But beyond that, nothing clicked.
At the end of the day I brought all checks into the house. My husband looked through them and exclaimed, "I see Johnny Cash was here!"¯ I gave him a blank look before it dawned on me. The women were June Carter Cash, her sister and her daughter. And I was ticked!!
However, the next day this immense bus stopped out front ablaze with Johnny Cash logos, and this time Johnny came in with the ladies. He was a tall man all in black, of course, modest in his actions, and totally likable. He picked up a shabby little book on Lincoln and murmured "for my collection,"¯ and then he spotted a seashell with the Lord's Prayer carved into its back and said, "This is for Momma"¯ (June's mother). June seemed to select glassware willynilly - for Christmas gifts, she said. She refused to allow her daughter to buy a sweet little cloisonnĆ© teapot because "it cost too much."¯
I got autographs, of course!
And so, some time later, when a large young man burst through the door and announced, "Hi, I'm with the Los Angeles Rams!"¯ I was primed to give him a proper "ooh"¯ and "aah"¯ welcome!! (And the autograph book.)
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