Supermarket Grouch

SUPERMARKET GROUCH

By Linda S. Gunther


As I make my way through the automatic doors, I spot the contraption which usually holds the red plastic tote baskets provided to carry my less than ten groceries from shelf to checkout. But today there are no small tote baskets available.

I don’t want a humungous metal cart to bump and grind with other shoppers. I want to rush down those narrow aisles filled with screaming babies and slow octogenarians taking their sweet time to examine the cereal box choices and condiments.

I want to be lithe, fairy-like, free with my small plastic tote, and get the hell out of Dodge.

But damn it, no totes anywhere to be seen.

I fly out the middle exit door, the only door to escape the mega supermarket. I dart across the parking lot almost tripping over a stray shopping cart placed close to the driver’s side of my SUV. A mega sized gray flatbed truck speeds by me, tires screeching.

Arriving at my car, I peek to see if there’s a scratch on my paint job. And there it is, a thin gray line through the white paint near the door handle. Crap!

I get behind the wheel feeling ticked off. When I come to the red street light at the corner, I plot my next move. I’ll get some gas in my already half-filled tank, zip into the gas station’s mini mart and then settle for a dull stove top grilled cheese instead of the medium rare steak perfectly done on my new BBQ accompanied by a side baked potato, the mouth-watering vision I thought of all afternoon.

Screw the supermarket I say to myself, and HAVE A NICE DAY!




Linda S Gunter is the author of the audiobook Ten Steps from the Hotel Inglaterra
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Ten-Steps-from-the-Hotel-Inglaterra-Audiobook/B0CXVNSPTF

AUTHOR BIO: LINDA S. GUNTHER

Linda S. Gunther is the author of six published romantic suspense novels including: Ten Steps From The Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost In The Wake, Finding Sandy Stonemeyer, Dream Beach, and Death Is A Great Disguiser. In 2023, Linda’s memoir titled A Bronx Girl was published and is available on Amazon. Linda has also written three children’s books. Over the past 18 months, more than 60 of Linda’s short stories, memoir pieces and essays have been published in a variety of literary journals across the world. Please visit Linda’s website for her WRITE-BYTES blog for developing writers at www.lindasgunther.com






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

40 Units

  “ You take forever to order just like with everything else, you haven’t changed at all have you?” A familiar voice with an unfamiliar face calls from behind. A long-lost friend welcomes unfamiliar emotions. We stare at each other in silence because I don't want to have small talk. I know her life ain’t easy, and at the same time, I still fall into the same small talk I desperately want to avoid. Cause just looking at her I know it’s not easy. Taking care of four kids by herself while working at Church's chicken ain’t nothing to even smile about. But I still ask her “How's everything” because I have no clue what else I should say to you. I want to make a joke, cause you know me as a class clown but life is no joke, and I know that better than anyone. Life's not fair in the slightest and I’ve always known that from being in foster care. Yet even I didn’t think life could be so cruel to just steal Rufina’s life from her. You tell me about how tough things ha...
Read more

Childcare

Image
Originally published in https://fiftywordstories.com/2023/12/27/derek-mcmillan-childcare/ Tom was a very badly behaved lad. Dick was frankly a demon. Their parents were careful to keep quiet when they were in the cradle. Harry’s parents were forever playing their Rod Stewart records. He was a very well-balanced child. Perhaps if you spare the Rod you spoil the child. Derek McMillan is a writer in Durringon in the UK. His editor is his wife, Angela. He has written for print and online publications in the UK, USA and Canada. His latest work is the cheerfully- entitled audio-book "Murder from Beyond the Grave" which is available on eBay. Check it out. Click Here
Read more

Demons

Image
Demons cannot do harm in real life. In dreams and reveries? Untold damage. People in the village were saying that the girl I met on the common was a demon. They seemed pretty certain about it too. This was ridiculous. Erica had long blonde hair and blue eyes. In those days all demons were foreigners and she did not look like a foreigner. Even so, I got her to swear blind that she was not a demon. "Do I look like a demon?" "No." "Well then." "So you're not?" "No, Tony, I am not a demon. I could swear on a Bible." She did and the Bible did not burst into flames either. The village was Sodbury but Erica actually came from Nether Sodbury which was a twenty minute walk away. Nobody in Sodbury ever went there. To say that Erica haunted my dreams would make her sound sinister. Let's just say that I haunted my own dreams with images of Erica. My family would not countenance a marria...
Read more