THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130234
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
Monday, July 30
7 p.m. - Convenience store on Euclid Avenue.
A construction worker buys several scratch-off lottery tickets, takes them to the counter next to the ice cream case, pulls out a coin and scratches off the prize amounts only. Without checking to see if he won, he walks out the door and throws the partially-scratched tickets into the metal cigarette can alongside several discarded smokes.
Another customer asks him why he didn't check the tickets completely to see if he won.
``Aw, hell,'' he says. ``If I see the prize is more than $2, I just throw them, because I know they're no good.''
The optimistic questioner waits until no one is looking, removes the tickets and scratches the rest of the latex off to check for a win.
He finds that the hard hat was right.
- Gary Edwards
Tuesday, Aug. 1
12:16 p.m. - Rosemont Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard.
A bumper sticker on a tan Tempo reads: ``Pray for Clinton. Vote for anyone else.''
- Charlie Meads
Wednesday, Aug. 2
7:30 p.m. - The Discovery boat.
Three police officers from Philadelphia and the wives of two of them, in town for the Fraternal Order of Police convention, are spending the evening cruising the Lynnhaven River on the popular tour boat. A local resident, originally from Philadelphia, recognizes their accents and strikes up a conversation.
The quintet is enthusiastic about their visit, especially the friendliness of the people and the cleanliness of the city.
``I know it's not the Schuylkill, but it's nice, isn't it?'' the local, referring to the river that runs through center city Philadelphia, says to one of the officers.
``I was just thinking the same thing,'' the Philadelphian responds matter-of-factly, ``no garbage and no dead bodies.''
- Jo-Ann Clegg
Friday, Aug. 4
10 p.m. - A convenience store on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
`` Will that be all?,'' the dark-haired clerk asks a pair of local boys who had just set a couple cases of Budweiser on the counter.
``Yeah, except for what he's got under his shirt,'' joked the scrawny red-haired, freckle-faced half of the duo, pointing to his pal who has his arms folded underneath his T-shirt.
``Let me see some I.D., guys,'' the young clerk replies, not amused by the fellow's humor.
``I got the `I,' Rob,'' says the redhead, standing tall with his hands glued to his sides, looking for his friend's support. ``You got the `D'?''
Stumbling, Rob somehow shapes his body into what looks like the letter `D,' before letting a record-breaking belch rip from inside.
The young clerk, feeling sorry for the drunken pair, laughs and lets them off the hook. ``It looks like you guys have already had a few of these,'' he says.
``If you only knew, man,'' answers the redhead, nodding his head and tossing his last dollars on the counter. ``If you only knew.''
- Holly Wester
Saturday, Aug. 5
Noon - North End beach.
Two little boys and their dad are playing with several colorful plastic boats in a shallow pool at the water's edge. The pool was left behind by the low tide. A ``channel'' of water leads into the pool from a little farther out on the shoals.
One of the little boys runs into the water and puts a red plastic boat in the channel. He watches as the incoming tide provides the ``current'' that carries the little boat up the channel and into the pool.
``Always bring a shovel to the beach,'' says dad, the channel builder.
``You've got to have something to keep them busy,'' he adds with a grin and a shrug.
Dad drops a big yellow boat into the channel and watches, pleased with his engineering, as the current carries his boat to shore and the safe harbor of the shallow pool.
- Mary Reid Barrow
Sunday, Aug. 6
11:05 a.m. - Roses in Haygood Shopping Center.
Several people, at least a dozen including employees wearing their customary blue vests, wait patiently on the sidewalk for the doors to the department store to open.
After about 10 minutes of waiting, one woman goes up to the glass and peers in. The lights are out and the place is closed up.
A young girl wearing a blue vest is on the pay phone near the store.
``From Newport News? In about 45 minutes?'' she says, giving customers their first clue that the store may not open on time.
As the other employees lounge against the door frame and mutter things like ``vacation'' and ``forgot,'' the customers who didn't hear the young girl's phone conversation continue to wait while those who did, leave.
At noon, the store is still not open, but the crowd outside is even larger and the store employees are no where to be seen.
- Lori A. Denney
Monday, Aug. 7
2:30 p.m. - Fairfield Shopping Center.
A woman driving a large American-made car scrapes her right front tire along the curb as she approaches the mailbox. ``Oops, done it again,'' she says to no one in particular.
2:40 p.m. - Atlantic Garden Center on Bonney Road.
Same woman gets out of her car, walks around to passenger side and does a double take. Two-thirds of the front tire, white wall included, is covered with a thick layer of bright yellow paint. Apparently, the curb at the shopping center had been painted just moments before she hit it.
2:45 p.m. - Beach Car Wash on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Same woman pulls up in the full-service lane and throws herself on the mercy of a squad of young men and women armed with sprays, rags and brushes.
``Can you do anything about that paint?'' she asks tentatively. ``Think so,'' one of the young men answers.
3 p.m. - Same place, same cast.
The car comes off the wash line with not a sign of the yellow paint left. ``You guys did a great job,'' the woman tells the workers, ``that was really pretty bad.''
``Yeah,'' one of the young men says, ``the last time I saw one that bad was when some police lady brought her unit in with two tires covered with white paint.''
- Jo-Ann Clegg
Wednesday, Aug. 9
10:30 a.m. - Constitution Avenue and Virginia Beach Boulevard.
The Shell Station on the corner is saying with flowers what people have been wishing for much of the summer. Against a background of red begonias, white begonias spell out, ``COOL.''
- Mary Reid Barrow ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
A helping hand
Volunteers for Reside With Pride - Phillip Black and Randi Lynn on
the ladder - paint a home in the 3600 block of Smokey Chamber Drive
in Chimney Hill one day after the house got a new roof, also
courtesy of the campaign. The homeowner is an elderly woman on a
fixed income with degenerative arthritis. Reside with Pride, a
nonprofit organization, helps low-income people find volunteers to
make home repairs. The work was donated by Construction Battalion
Unit 411, based at Norfolk Naval Base. Materials were provided by
Builder's Square; W.T. Altherr, a general contractor; Taylor's Do-It
Center; and Lowe's. For more information, contact Sharon Prescott at
the Virginia Beach Department of Housing at 426-5750.
by CNB