Bob

Chantilly, Virginia

I was a senior at Pawtucket West in '78, and worked part time at the Thayer Market. The day the blizzard started I stayed home from school with a cold so I didn't go to work, either. After a few days I succumbed to the pleas of the desperate folks down at the market and made the five-or-so-mile walk down East Avenue, Hope Street, and Thayer Street to the market. When I got there the line was down the block to the old IHOP. The shelves were close to bare, people were even buying condensed milk and other crap.

At some point, when the crowd really started getting ugly, a delivery truck was spotted driving the wrong way up Thayer Street to the market. No one knew what it was bringing—milk, produce, fresh meat? Finally it got to the store and everyone could see that it was delivering... paper bags.

Received via email, March 3, 2005.