I load my bread and other necessities onto the conveyor belt and stand waiting for my turn to have my items bagged and totalled so that I can pay and be on my way. I gaze at the clouds forming and the sky darkening. I am always in a hurry, trying to stay one step ahead and always finding myself two steps behind.
The person checking out my lane is new. He is slow. I look at the lady ahead of me. She has a scowl on her face. She sees me looking at her and I smile. She scowls and looks away. I wonder why she is so surly. I begin to try to imagine what her life is like. I notice a cane in her cart. She moves very slowly. Now I feel a little guilty that I am so impatient to get on with my day. As she writes her check for her purchases, so painfully slow. I happen to look down. Her shoes are way too big. They are good shoes, but I could easily slip two fingers behind her heel. They must be two sizes too big. She finally finishes writing the check and the clerk offers her bag. She snatches it from him and puts it in the seat part of the grocery cart. The tomato slides down in a portion of the bag and is hanging precariously out one of the leg holes. I reach towards her to catch it and she snarls at me and pushes the cart forward. The tomato continues to hang on as she shuffles out of the store.
I wonder about her as I drive home. I wonder what her life is like. I wonder why she is so disagreeable. I can only conclude that her feet must hurt from her bad fitting shoes giving her the awful attitude. Maybe I should have followed her home and then taken her to get a pair of shoes that actually fit............
9 comments:
She may have been angry at the price of tomatoes!
Hope you had a lovely Mother's Day.
Sunny :)
yeah i wonder about people too...very observant of you as well...perhaps...
hope you have a fab mothers day!
You wonder about the same things I do sometimes!
I found myself in a very surly mood this morning after another night of sleeplessness and pain and just the mundaneness of it all and I wrote a post.
After reading it I realized how stupid I was for being so cranky - I mean seriously - everyday above ground is a good one, eh? And considering....
So I removed the post because I really am grateful for all that I have but sometimes I just get worn down - and perhaps it was that lady's day to be worn out - it doesn't excuse her behavior in public, but it may explain it.
As for her shoes she might wear them too big in case her feet swell - but you are the kind of person that would've bought her a new pair and that is one thing I love about you Kathy - your compassion. Thanks for the post.
Love ya! Happy Mother's Day
some people are just cranky....I know I am sometimes. :-)
We never really know what goes on in other people's lives, do we?
Pain is a powerful mood killer. People who are in chronic pain are often cranky. It comes with the territory. The cane, the shoes...she was probably hurting pretty badly.
You know she wouldn't have let you buy her new shoes. Hell, she wouldn't even let you rescue her tomatoe! But kudos to you for wanting to. Those are the thoughts that keep the light shining in this world.
some days i have trouble keeping a smile on my face, too. like you, i would have tried to catch the tomato or told her that it was sliding out. she probably would have scowled anyway. maybe, being mother's day, she was feeling too much alone and having to shop for herself because she had no one else.
poor lady.
you are such a kind person to worry about her too-big shoes.
You know, sometimes I'd wonder, too, about a crabby person and think, Why can't they be happy? But then I'd stop and think, hey I have NO idea how they're day has been. You are very kind to wonder AND worry about this woman. You are a kind soul.
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