Haymarket Square: My first real trip there

Back in about 1972 I took my three very small children to Haymarket on the subway on a Saturday morning.

That was quite an adventure.

First there was keeping track of them, ages 6, 4, and 2, while I shopped. I was looking for bargains on veggies, which didn't fascinate them in the least. So they grew bored, whined, wandered....

And then there was the issue of carrying all I bought in the big cloth bags I'd brought.

And it was a rather hot day, and a crowded one.

It had taken us probably 40 minutes to get to Haymarket on the Green Line from the parking lot at Riverside. And of course it would take us that long to get back. And after half an hour the children were very tired of it in every way.

I had expected to scout around much more. But it was not to be. I gave up and we started off toward the Haymarket subway stop.

It took forever to get there! I had to carry bags loaded with all the veggies I had succumbed to, and some bread, and the two year old. And I recall having to drag, herd, and otherwise 'encourage' the other two. And I was hot. And we were all hungry.

Finally we made it to the stop, and through the turnstile, and down the stairs, and after a long wait onto the Riverside train, one of many branches of the Green Line.

We made it to the car, we made it home, we had far too many veggies.... Or else I probably wouldn't remember it all now, 40 years later.

Haymarket: A Sharley Adventure is a tribute to that Haymarket day. Her's ends very differently from ours, as you will see. Download it to your device - it's free - and leave a comment here. It will help make the next Sharley adventure better.

And meanwhile, since "Haymarket" is only a few pages long, you might like to read Triple Divide, a novel about an adventure Sharley had as she was entering her teen years.