I just got back from shopping at Walmart. When I was 10 feet into the parking lot with a grocery cart full of food, a heavy rain started. The sweat pants I bought for 5 bucks had a broken draw string, and as I was trying to hurry, they began slipping down my legs. Trying to navigate a grocery cart in a downpour with one hand while desperately tugging on my waistband from alternate sides quickly became too much for me, so 35 feet into the parking lot I suddenly stopped and headed back to the store.
Not wanting to crush delicate edibles, which I always put on top, I had stashed five 2 liter drinks in the bottom, and when I turned, they came tumbling out onto the pavement and rolled out of their bags. Having no other choice, I chased them down, grabbed them, and dumped them on top of the tomatoes and sandwich bread, and I wheeled back through traffic while snatching at my pants.
There was no way to know how long it would rain, so after a minute of hesitation, I left my cart under the eaves and started wandering the parking lot in the downpour looking for my car. On the way in to Walmart, I was listening to voicemail, so I didn’t notice where I had parked (I can’t multi-task). And as I was parking, the grocery-cart-collection-guy was occupying the spot I wanted, so I backed into the place opposite… unfortunately, the one identifying feature of my very nondescript honda accord is the bike rack I have on the back, which was now invisible.
I finally found my car, louded the sopping groceries, and headed home. 10 minutes later it stopped raining. With my amazing sense of timing I should go into stand-up.
Janathan Grace Reflections 
Leave a Reply