Let’s go to the Llama Store

The boys and I walked to school this morning because the car was unavailable. It’s a spring-y, breezy, blossomy kind of day. My little guy stays home with me on Fridays, and our schedule is much more relaxed than Monday-Thursday. You can  practically hear the clouds sighing with relief on Fridays, as they float aside to let the sun shine down.

On the way home Max started talking about popsicles, and a mystery presented itself unexpectedly.

So Mama? Remember that time a very long time ago when I had a mango popsicle?

Yes, I remember (kind of, um I mean I can’t remember every single popsicle or mango feeding).

Well maybe when I get home I can just eat a mango popsicle.

We don’t have any mango popsicles. I’d have to get some at the store.

Yeah we can just go to the Llama Store. That’s where they have mango popsicles.

The what?

The Llama Store!

I confirmed that he did not mean to say Fred Meyer, New Seasons, Target or Costco. He was absolutely sure that mango popsicles are available at the Llama Store.

What on earth was the Llama Store?

It was a mysterious mystery. I kept asking him questions to get to the bottom of it, but he just kept insisting that the Llama Store was the place to get mango popsicles.

On the corner of our street there is a coffee kiosk, a taco shop, a sushi restaurant and a colmado – a small corner store that sells overpriced convenience items, lottery tickets and rolling papers. I’ve rarely gone inside.

We turned by the colmado to head home, and passed signage in the window that looked like this:

See, Mom? There’s the LLAMA. And that’s the LLAMA STORE.

Yes, I did see. And no, I didn’t correct him that it was actually an image of a camel, not a llama. The fact that it was a tobacco ad went way over his head.

Later I asked his father if by chance he had ever taken our smart little guy to the colmado to buy a popsicle.

He sure had.

Mystery solved.

P.S. The best popsicles I’ve ever had can be found not at the Llama Store but throughout the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Known for its paletas, the city’s local  ice pops are made from fresh fruit and come in flavors like prickly pear, watermelon, coconut, and of course, mango. Magical mango nutrition on a stick.