Teton, the land of my heritage

I always forget what Idaho is like until I come back here. So Today my mom was having the church youth over at her house. They needed some additional beverages so I went to the closest place to buy soda... Russell's junction. The sign states that it is a gas'n grub bar'n grill, so I'm not really sure what it really is. I am almost ashamed to say that I lived in Teton for nineteen years of my life and I had never gone into Russell's Junction. If those of you don't know Russell's Junction is the only remaining convenient store in Teton after Miles Market AKA Pappy's, cyotes, and a plethora of other names closed down a few years ago. Teton's 578 residents have been forced to seek solitude at Russell's junction, or make the long trek to Sugar City. I was in a hurry today, so To Russell's I went. I was going for a two litter of soda. I walked into the door that had a piece of notebook paper stating that this was the Russel's store. I assume the other door was to the bar and they have to keep them separated. I walked in was was immediately taken back by how truly small the room really was. There is one center shelf displaying common household products such as laundry soap and breakfast cereal. The back wall was lined with coolers containing soda, but no two liter's. I just must be used to the massive Texas grocery stores, with there florescent lights, and grocery isles that go on for miles. It seems like there was one bag of chips, two Snickers, a few packs of gum, all situated on the middle shelf. I collected my soda and waited at the cash register for a long time. The walls were covered in a dark panelling, and there were wooden sign where the words RUSSELL'S had been burned into the wood. Two teens came it and bought Mountain Dew and Bugles (who new they still made bugles, and poked their head into the bar to tease the cashier/bartender. Above their head was a 5 in by 5 in sign written in almost in legible scrawl stating no one under 21 allowed after 4:00. Eventually the bartender/cashier sauntered over to collect my money. He was a thick man wearing a white T-shirt. His mustache looked like it forgot to stop growing when it got to the edge of his mouth and dripped in straight lines off of his chin. At the top of his shirt, I saw a thick rim of chest hair that also forget to stop growing at his chest and was making it's way up his neck. As I got a close look I realized that it was waving a sure hello at me as I kept peering at it, unable to look away for long. He saw the 13 month old baby I held in my arms and got a looks of sure knowledge in his eyes.





"I know what you want," speaking to my son. His right hand reached toward a candy jar full of Dum-Dums. "You want one of these." His grin out shown even his waving chest hair. I politely declined, saying Logan would probably choke on it. He still insisted that that is what Logan wanted. I politely declined 3 times, saying he would defiantly choke before he looked down with a fallen face. Perhaps I should have shelled out the $.05 to buy a Dum Dum. He had moved on to the next customer before I was out the door. Maybe he bought a Dum Dum.