Friday, I ran in Country Mart to pick up some bananas. Some marketing genius has set up a table of Little Debbie Cakes on the narrow entry from the indoor cart corral to the store proper. So of course I grabbed a giant box of the Cosmic Brownies for The Pony. He goes through a box a week.
That was all I needed. The shortest shopping trip ever. I grabbed those brownies like a NASCAR winner grabbing the checkered flag, only I didn't need to slow down. The banana stand is the second one back in the produce department. I picked up the greenest of the yellow bananas, and went directly to the checkout. Only one lane open. The short conveyor.
One man was paying, and a lady with a full cart had already emptied half of it onto the short conveyor. I pulled in behind her, leaving a tasteful 6 feet, and leaned on my cart/walker to wait. I am never in a hurry.
The lady had a daughter with her, about 9-10 years old. She might have had special needs, or maybe was just high-spirited. She was running around, and whirling with her arms out like Julie Andrews in the Austrian Alps in The Sound of Music. Not annoying like some little monsters, but just enjoying herself, passing time. Every now and then, The Lady would say, "Come help me put this out." And she would for a minute.
As The Lady turned again to ask Daughter for help, she saw me in line behind her.
"Oh, please. Let my stuff sit, and take her first. She only has two things!"
WHAT IN THE NOT-HEAVEN???
"That is SO KIND! You don't have to do that!"
"I want to. Go ahead."
"Thank you!"
I handed the Old Gal Checker my bananas. She weighed them. Put them in a bag. I handed her my (The Pony's) box of Cosmic Brownies.
"Oh, these are always SO HEAVY!"
"Yes! They seem way heavier than brownies should be. My son loves them. He works for the post office, delivering mail, but says he can't eat one in the morning, because it's too heavy in his stomach while carrying mail!"
As I paid with my card, I turned to The Lady. "Thank you so much!"
"She's a sweetheart, isn't she?" said Old Gal Checker.
Yes. She most definitely was. I'm not used to such kindness. It warms the cockles of my cold, cold heart. Melts the ice like a
chemical handwarmer given a good smack and jammed down into my aorta.
Like slathering BenGay on my sternum. Like resting with a newborn
sleeping against my chestal area.
7 comments:
Aren't there 20 packages in the giant box? Again, I guess he has no problem walking off all those brownies. They certainly don't melt away in the triangle tub.
Yes, kindness like that is a rare thing...
I am SO looking forward to resting with a newborn :)
How many brownies are in each box? If there are 20, as Sioux thinks, then The Pony is eating 2.85 brownies per day to get through them in a week. If only I could stop at 2.85 brownies, or even just 2. But I can't and this is why I rarely make them anymore.
That full-cart lady was very nice to let you through first.
Sioux,
I went upstairs and read the box. Which was UNsurprisingly open.[Not solely to read the box, but to dish up some night-time leftovers.]
There are 12 brownies in the large box, and they are NOT scored to break in half. Even The Pony, who materialized out of nowhere when I had the brownie box in my hand, thought they had a dividing line. Nope. Only the Cosmic Brownies in the small box, which holds either 5 or 6.
I don't need anything melting in our big triangle tub in the master bathroom. But The Pony has lost 30 pounds since he started his job. I think he said he now weighs 150 lbs.
***
River,
You had better be looking forward to resting with TWO newborns! Although "resting" probably isn't the best term for what you'll be doing.
12 brownies in a box. I prefer the Little Debbie Swiss Rolls myself. They're like twin (TWIN!) little jelly roll cakes, except they're chocolate cake, with creme filling instead of jelly, and a thin chocolate coating.
Yes, that lady was nice. If she had been an elementary student, she would have gotten a "caught being good" mention in her classroom!
Oatmeal Little Debbie for me. It is HEALTHY! Oatmeal is healthy and there it is right on the box, main ingredient. Justified. I always let people with just a few items go in front of me, it is the right thing to do as I work on my karma.
Kathy,
My best old ex-teaching buddy Mabel, a math teacher, used to hand out the oatmeal Little Debbies on PI Day, March 14.
Maybe you could also "accidentally" drop a penny every now and then. You know, to work on your karma.
If I drop change you better believe I will pick it up! My penny pinching ways are the reason we now own a home with NO mortgage.
Kathy,
And the reason we own the Mansion, and now Pony House, with no mortgage! Not because of YOUR penny-pinching ways, of course! But because we think alike, and know how to manage the menfolk.
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