Retail Death

On a rainy day in September, Willie was going through his wife's clothes, before her funeral. Tears ran down his face as he remembered how she loved wearing her good dress, even though sometimes they were just grabbing lunch at a local cafe.

Drying his eyes, he flashed back to twenty-five years earlier, remembering how his grandmother would take him to thrift stores, where he could get all he could stuff in a paper-bag for a quarter. His grandmother would say, sometimes people bring clothes of dead relatives here to help out those who can't afford new stuff. Willie loved being able to get a bag of clothes for only a quarter.

A quick knock at his door. It was his neighbor, Lisa. She asked what he was going to do with his late wife's clothes. Willie shrugged his shoulders. Lisa said that her church was accepting donations of dead people's clothes to sell, to help inner-city kids. Even when we die, we can have an impact on those who are still living.