Excerpt:

Mrs. Kohler had gravitated to a group near the Christmas tree. Two older ladies sat side by side, wiping their eyes. She probably needed a minute.

Flora sat down next to a blonde woman at the wrapping table. Laundry baskets full of toys lined the wall, each with a little tag on it. In front of each seat at each of the six-foot tables was a huge roll of wrapping paper on a metal rack.

“Here, let me show you.” The blonde pulled some paper from the roll under a metal bar. Then she ripped it along the bar. “It works like a big roll of waxed paper. We got these when the Borders at the mall closed. The paper, too. It’s made the whole process so much easier.”

“Thank you.” Flora grabbed a toy from the basket behind her chair and wrapped it in the paper the blonde had just ripped off.

I worked at Borders for 10 years. We did free gift wrapping. The wrapping paper was on these huge metal racks that allowed us to pull it off in lengths. The rolls were massive. A few times while I worked there we were told to throw out paper before the roll was finished. That never happened. I got 2-3 rolls over my years. They weren’t as easy to use as they had been with the racks, but man that paper lasted forever. Good sturdy paper, too.

I miss Borders.