I left Country Mart after being given a line jump by that sweet lady with a full cart, and headed for the Gas Station Chicken Store for my magical elixir.
Upon entering, I had to go down the narrow aisle on the far left, which has an ATM and a cooler of juices and a shelf of automobile accessories. That was because a lady and her teenage daughter were blocking the middle aisle, putting their red tickets in a cardboard box for the weekly gas drawing. Not really blaming them. That's the only place they could have been standing, although they could have shoved over to let me pass.
Anyhoo... I went across the back aisle under the long shoplifter mirror, and came up to the soda fountain. The guy who came in the door behind me (yes, I gave him the courtesy wide-door-yank) was more svelte than I, and had squeezed through the aisle-blockers and the dude checking out, to come down towards the soda fountain. Thank the Gummi Mary, he was using the Pepsi fountain! Getting TWO sodas.
The lids and straws are now on the other side of the Pepsi fountain. I was done drawing my 44 oz Diet Coke, and was biding my time until I could get a lid. After-Guy was trying to fill his second 44 oz cup, a Diet Pepsi, which was foaming too much.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm blocking the lids."
"No, that's okay. I'm not in a hurry. I just have to go home and warm up leftovers."
"Yeah. My kid called and asked if I was stopping to bring home food, and I said, 'We have a whole refrigerator full of food!'"
He put on his lids, and went up front. He set his sodas on the left side of the counter, where the register was closed, and pulled out his wallet.
"You can go ahead."
"Oh, you don't have to do that!"
"No, it's fine."
I
went ahead, cashing in my $20 scratcher winner. Got new tickets. Paid for my magical
elixir. The Afternoon Cashier asked how was my Thanksgiving.
"Good! I'm headed for some leftovers. How was your Thanksgiving?"
"It was good. Even though I had to drive WAY DOWN SOUTH!"
"Oh? Where did you go?"
"I don't know! Somewhere down below Bill-Paying Town!"
"Uh. You could go a LOT farther 'down south' than down below Bill-Paying Town!"
"I didn't know the area. It was a bunch of trees! It was so dark. I kept trying to follow the directions on my phone. I was hoping nobody would jump out of the woods!"
"Heh, heh! When I worked in St. Louis, one of the secretaries said her mother told her, "NEVER go south of Lindbergh! There are no streetlights down there." [Blog Buddy Sioux will get that reference.]
"Some city people don't understand that we're not ALL bad down here! We'd even help them out if they needed it."
He wasn't a-woofin'!
I thanked After-Guy again for letting me go ahead. I guess everybody is full of Christmas cheer
now that Thanksgiving is over.
7 comments:
I recently moved from the city to Affton. I cringe every time I have to go out at night with no streetlights. It's dark out there!
The section east of Lindbergh (where I live) is also a dark part. Street lights? We don't need 'em. The hooligans like the darkness to cloak their shenanigans...
Even Steven is gonna take a big bite out of you. Human kindness... is overflowing It's gonna have to get balanced somehow.
(Did you get the reference?)
angie,
I guess I'm used to being in the dark! It doesn't freak me out if I'm in a car. But I don't want to go walking around in the woods without the protection of metal and glass!
***
Sioux,
Oh, you mean hooligans like some weird woman wearing her son's boots and hoodie, lurking around planning how to steal a dog?
Even Steven has just chomped! For no good reason! And distributed my good stuff to The Pony (story on my not-so-secret blog Tuesday). I guess The Pony is due for SOMETHING good...
I do not get that reference. Am I slipping? Is it some Seinfeldian trivia? Or perhaps some 80s lyric?
No streetlights? Do they also roll up the sidewalks precisely at ten? or even earlier at sunset?
I like the way people are more cheerful and helpful when Christmas is getting close, it makes for peaceful shopping and I don't even care if their ulterior motive is getting on Santa's "good list".
River,
Heh, heh! As IF we have sidewalks in Hillmomba! Over in School-Turn Town, they're rolling OUT the sidewalks! Putting in more of those annoying curbs and peninsulas that HOLD STREET LIGHTS! But not here.
The nicest checker at Country Mart has been decorating for two days now! He opened up his line for me yesterday, asked how my Thanksgiving was, told me about his own (he finished all the macaroni and cheese, and the mashed potatoes, because they're his favorite), and then went to put lights on the fake tree they put up in front of the service desk. He said he LOVES to decorate. Today he was hanging colored lights over the inner sliding glass doors, and told me to have a nice day.
You are such a musical buff. I figured you'd hear Randy Newman singing that song.
You know I can't best you when it comes to Seinfeld... so I have to delve into rougher territory.
Sioux,
The only Randy Newman song I recall is "Short People." Now that you shamed me into looking him up, I discovered that he also wrote "Mama Told Me Not To Come," the 3 Dog Night hit!
Had you mentioned any lyrics from Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" album, I would have been all over it...
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