Artifacts From a Childhood in Emma Kaster
The highlight and backbone of any small town in Kansas is the Dollar General. Its yellow and black sign is a beacon for kids who are bored half to death with piggy bank money to spend on a toy they’d break on the same day. I was no different from the other small town hooligans, and I frequented the DG as often as my mom would allow. One such shopping spree resulted in me walking home with a bug catching kit. I wasn’t so fond of bugs, but the kit came with a magnifying glass and I thought that was pretty cool. My dad showed me how to kill ants with the magnifying glass and I thought that was pretty cool too. My mom did not think it was very cool that I spent the afternoon sitting in the gravel driveway, lighting mini fires to exterminate the ants, which I found so offensive. The DG was also the spot to buy birthday gifts before online shopping became a thing and stayed around long enough for people in rural Kansas to catch on. It takes at least five years for most trends or societal developments to make their way from the coasts all the way inward to the sunflower state. Family members had to communicate and make sure they didn’t buy the exact same coloring book, jigsaw puzzle, or birthday card for so-and-so’s cousin’s birthday party at the bowling alley—which was the only place to have a birthday party in Stockton, Kansas.
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