The local grocery store is a gathering spot for our small
community, a meeting place of sorts.
Today I counted four groups of people stopped in the aisles, carts side by side,
comparing experiences of the snow storm that dumped 13 inches of white powdery snow
on our community this week. Old and
young were out to replenish food supplies that were depleted during the week of
school, business and road closures. It was most likely their first venture out
now that the streets were safe to drive again.
Two elderly women, dressed in rubber boots and heavy coats
with bright blue flannel scarves, were standing at the front entrance when I
arrived, and still there 30 minutes later when I left. The slump
of their shoulders and the sad and somber looks on their
wrinkled faces spoke of some recent
tragedy.
In one aisle, a mother was trying unsuccessfully to quiet her
young crying baby, while the father hurriedly gathered canned vegetables and tossed
them in the already chock-full cart. Their young daughter glanced around, head
down and eyes darting to either end of the aisle as if she were embarrassed her baby
brother was behaving so badly.
A brilliant rack of ruby
red valentine decorations and heart shaped boxes of chocolate covered candy filled one aisle making sure everyone knew
it was time to get ready for the next holiday. Three teenaged girls were
reading the valentine cards, laughing loudly, making smooching sounds, and poking each other in the side.
Even though the harried check-out clerks were busy, they had
a smile and a sincere word of salutation
for each customer. I stood in line behind a young boy who simply couldn’t stand
still. His mother carried a cake with
“Happy Birthday” written on it. She raised
her eyebrows and laughed, “Grant has
ants in his pants.” Grant said, “I’m six, I’m six!” as he hopped
forward like a kangaroo when the line moved.
As I left with my
purchases I was surprised to see bouquets of golden daffodils and flats of
purple, yellow, and white pansies displayed to the side of the entrance. They
did look cheery, but with snow still in my flowerbeds, I wasn’t quite ready for
spring yet.
Nice story, PW. Let's see if my laptop allows me to leave a note here. My PC won't.
ReplyDeleteI love your observations. Looking around like you've done provides us writers with an abundance of material to put on paper. Just look at what you've written here based on what was going on in the grocery store after the snowstorm.
ReplyDeleteYou've painted a picture of the aisles in the store and the activity going on up and down them.
Then you topped it off with your thoughts regarding the super early display of flowers.
I hope all is well with you as life returns to normal after the excitement that the weather dumped on your neck of the woods.
Thanks ladies! I've just started another ed2go class "The Writers Guide to Descriptive Settings" and this was assignment two: go to a meeting place and describe it using similie, metaphore,alliteration, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think I took that class too. Wow, that was a long time ago. I need to get back in the swing of things.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me to look up once in a while. I get so busy and wrapped up in what I'm doing, I forget to notice what's around me. Thanks for sharing your assignment with us.
Taking those classes sounds like so much fun! Mind if I live vicariously through you. :-)
ReplyDelete