A Visit to the Big City


When I left home I spent a number of years in a big city in another state pursuing my education and learning my trade. The city never seemed like home. I was glad when I had the chance to return to Arkansas and small-town life. Still, after living in the city for so long I did come to miss some of the things one finds in cities—the cultural amenities, the great variety of restaurants and retailers, the sprawling and varied neighborhoods, and the sheer variety of things to see and do. I miss these things sometimes. On the rare occasions when I have a work-related reason to visit a city I am glad to do it.

Recently a rainy Saturday morning prevented my taking care of some planned yard work. I was limited in what I could do inside as well. During the big split I kept all of my books while losing most of the household’s book cases. Until I did something about the piles of books here and there around the house, I would not be able to get everything nice and organized the way I wanted.

Since I wanted to place the new book case near the old one, I hoped to find one that would more or less match it. The old case was a simple white prefabricated piece. None of the stores in the general area that I tried had anything like that. I decided that when I next went to Little Rock on business I would look for one there. For one reason or another I had not had a chance to go Little Rock in quite some time. I had just learned that it would be weeks before I had a work-related reason to make such a trip. Tired of waiting, I decided to take a chance on the weather and the condition of the old car and make the journey that morning.

Both factors worked out in my favor. The rain stopped as I left my home area, while the car kept going for the couple of hours it took to reach Little Rock. When I saw the city’s modest skyline ahead I prepared for the challenge of facing city traffic. Over the last several years my urban driving skills have gotten rusty. Everything turned out well with that as well.

Instead of going to Little Rock proper I headed first to North Little Rock. Although much smaller than the state capital on the other bank of the Arkansas River, North Little Rock is still one of the state’s largest cities. I knew that the McCain Boulevard area would have most of the retailers I was looking for.

My first stop was the Barnes & Noble bookstore. I can’t resist going into a bookstore on the rare occasions I have a chance to get near one. I browsed for over half an hour. That did not seem like nearly enough. My bookstore browsing time never does seem adequate. I found two reduced-price items that looked interesting enough to buy. It is just as well that my personal funds for books are kind of limited, since I don’t have a huge amount of space and shelving at home.

Next I checked in on the Target store in the same shopping center. A Target closer to home had not had any flat-pack book cases that matched the one I already owned. Sure enough, this one did not have any either. I checked out their baking pans and found that these cost more than I wanted to spend. So I left Target empty-handed.

By now it was around noon. McCain had developed a case of heavy traffic. I eased out into the stream in my little white car and made my way east, where I recalled there being a home improvement outlet or two. Surely they would have a variety of flat-pack furniture!

I waited until I could make a left turn and pulled into the Home Depot store. Or rather I pulled into a shopping center that came just before Home Depot. I soon found that there was no connection whatsoever between the two parking lots. I would have to fight my way back out into the traffic and try again a few yards further down the street. This is only one reason why I like living where we do not have city traffic!

I don’t go to cavernous retailers like Home Depot very often. Their size still makes a real impression on me. The ceiling seemed high enough for birds—or maybe bats, since the light looked dim up there—to nest in the rafters. Aisles stretched for city blocks, lined with construction materials, tools, equipment, lighting fixtures, and on and on.

According to one of the store’s floor plan maps, book cases were located in an aisle near the back. When I got there I found no book cases—only assorted shelving, built-in shelving units, and closet organizers that were shaped like book cases but were the wrong size and not designed to stand alone. A couple of run-throughs and visits to surrounding aisles turned up nothing like what I wanted.

I finally left Home Improvement and drove to the rival Lowe’s outlet across the street. Here I found a plain white five-shelf flat-pack book case that looked like it would go in my living room. I was pleasantly surprised by the low cost. Carefully I eased one of the prefabricated units into a shopping cart and took it up front to check out. Soon I had it stowed in the back of the car. My main mission of the day was accomplished.

Next I headed back west on McCain, negotiating the still-heavy traffic. At one point I found myself directly behind a motorcyclist who had just pulled into the dense traffic stream. He was a braver rider than I was. I wondered why in the world he had his helmet clamped to the back of his bike instead of on his head.

I passed McCain Mall and all its retailers. I don’t wear jewelry, had no gifts I was needing to find at the time, and color-blind people like me with no fashion sense don’t need to spend a lot of time looking for clothes. Instead I went on to another large shopping center past the mall. Here I knew that there was a Books-A-Million, North Little Rock’s other large bookstore.

Beside the bookstore I found one of those huge chain pharmacies that sells some of just about everything. I got some gel to treat my nagging tooth ache. While in the store I looked around and soon found a baking pan for a good price and a quart of oil for the car (which would probably need it after the long trip). It seemed rather odd to find three such disparate items all in a store calling itself a pharmacy, but I appreciated the convenience. The pharmacy back home carries basically medicine and greeting cards.

By now the day was wearing on. I would have to get a move on to take care of everything and still get back home before dark. I forced myself to spend a very limited time browsing at Books-A-Million. I had already spent most of what I had determined before hand I would let myself spend that day anyway.

Also in the shopping center I found a Chinese restaurant. I treated myself to a nice sampling of differing kinds of chicken, fried rice, crab, octopus, and, of all things, blackberry cobbler. While there I heard a remarkable number of fellow diners speaking Spanish. Only in America, I guess!

After lunch I strolled for a few minutes at a little park-like space in the center of the shopping center to stretch my legs. I had been hearing barking every time I went outside and decided out of curiosity to see where it was coming from. It turned out to be the Pulaski County Animal Shelter’s mobile adoption unit with a batch of puppies needing homes. I did not need any more dogs and decided to investigate no further.

From the shopping center I drove to JFK Boulevard and North Little Rock’s only comic book shop, one of a tiny handful in the entire state. I browsed there for quite a while; it was the first time in probably six months I had been around such a large selection of comics. I splurged (for me) and bought three whole new comic books. Usually I buy some fifty-cent used comics as well. This time the store’s rather limited selection had nothing that sparked my interest.

Now I drove across the river to Little Rock proper and the main library downtown. It is the headquarters of a regional consortium called the Central Arkansas Library System, or CALS. The main building is a newish place, not the handsomest city library I’ve seen but very nice nonetheless. It felt nice to step into a big-city library for a bit, with all its many yards of shelves. I did not see any staff members I recognized and so had nobody in particular to say hello to.

Across the parking lot stands a fine old turn-of-the-century commercial building where CALS runs its used book operation. Unlike our little Friends of the Library room it is a whole used bookstore, the best one in all of central Arkansas. That day I had the misfortune to arrive shortly before closing time and could not browse for long. I was equally disappointed at not being able to check out the art gallery upstairs. It always has something interesting to see.

It was just as well that the place was about to close. I needed to be starting out on the long trip home. As I pulled out of the parking lot I saw a low concrete retaining wall colorfully painted with the titles of classic children’s books like Curious George and Charlotte’s Web. That little bit of urban decoration at CALS was new.

Within a few minutes I had pulled out onto the interstate highway and was leaving Little Rock’s steel and glass towers behind. It was too bad I had to leave well before dark. City skyscrapers look beautiful in the evening, when the late rays of the sun burnish them, and the sky behind them turns a deep blue, and their many lights come on. I miss having the chance to see that once in a while.