Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Peace train derails

By LANE DEGREGORY
Published January 21, 2007

TAMPA

My friend and I are checking out T-shirts in Steve and Barry's clothing store when a woman walks up to us, brandishing a pair of plaid shorts.

She's tall, in her mid 40s, wearing faded jeans and a white ribbed undershirt. She plops the shorts on a stack of shirts beside us and says, "Hey."

The shorts are blue and green and yellow, ironed and heavily starched. It's clear she brought them from home.

"I'm going to a party tonight," the woman tells us.

She pulls a T-shirt from a cubby beside her. All three walls in the section are filled with screen-printed shirts. Some have logos for sports teams, others cheer the joys of beer and big boobs.

The shirt the woman chooses is emerald green. She drops it on the shorts and says, "Does this match?"

I look it over. "It's pretty green," I say.

"Well anyone can do blue or yellow," says the woman. As if.

"It matches great," says my friend. "Go for it."

The woman picks up the shirt. She stares at the decal, furrows her brow. The shirt has a white peace sign emblazoned across the front.

"What's this?" she asks. "What's this symbol?"

My friend and I look at each other. Is she putting us on?

"It's a peace sign," my friend says.

"A what?" asks the woman. "Isn't it some kind of gay thing?"

My friend shakes her head. "No. It's a peace sign."

"It's not gay?" says the woman. "Damn." She sounds so disappointed.

"It's for peace," I say, in case she still doesn't get it.

The woman lets this sink in. Then a smile spreads across her face. "I like peace," she says.

When her girlfriend walks up, the woman shows her the outfit. "What do you think?" she asks.

Her girlfriend looks confused. She pokes the decal. "What's this?"

The woman glances at us knowingly, as if we'd shared some inside information. "They say it's for peace."

Slowly, her girlfriend begins to nod. "Well," she says, "you like peace."

Then the girlfriend turns to us. "She likes peace," she says. "She does."

They walk off together, arm-in-arm, carrying those plaid shorts and their newfound peace.

[Last modified January 20, 2007, 21:11:31]