Monday, May 22, 2017

Monday Mini Part 3

Welcome to the first Monday Mini-Series, a new idea I'm introducing to Rainbow Lyrics and Mellow Mushrooms. Each mini-series will be roughly 4-5 parts all coming together to comprise a short story. This first short features a superhero trying to do a very simple task...go grocery shopping. I hope you'll follow along to see how things go for him. Feel free to leave comments and feedback. I hope you enjoy this first installment.


Lactose Intolerant Part 3


"Why, when he'd already made up his mind about our intentions the moment we stepped in. Let's face it, people are jaded. It’s easier for them to see the bad in everyone than to expect something good."
"Tell me again why we bother?"
"I guess so we don't become as disillusioned as the rest of them. Besides, what's the point of having lightning reflexes if we can't do anything with them? It’s not like we can take all of our martial arts training and complete in tournaments or even fight pro, it wouldn’t be fair, we'd always be able to anticipate where the strikes would land, so we'd always counter them, where's the challenge in that?"
"Where's the challenge now?"
"True, but at least we're doing something good, even if most people don't appreciate it."
"Umm, excuse me sir, but are you okay?"
The soft, feminine voice startled them out of their conversation. Glancing around they suddenly found themselves face to face with a middle aged woman who was clutching her daughter close.
"Umm yeah, We…err, I’m fine," Naill replied, looking away.
"Then can you please move? I've been trying to get to that shelf for the past few minutes. I even said excuse me several times, but it didn't seem like you heard a word of it."
"Sorry," Devlin replied, and felt his face heat up, he sure hoped Naill was blushing too or they were going to look pretty odd. Shuffling left, they moved so the little girl could get her box of cereal, one of the beautiful, sugary kinds Devlin would have loved to have.
"Fine, one," Naill finally relented once the woman and her little girl were on their way.
Giddy, Devlin reached out and snatched up the same kind as the little girl, placing it in the cart with a loving pat before they continued down the aisle.
In the produce section, they loaded up on fresh veggies and fruits, Devlin wrinkling his nose at the broccoli and making gagging noises at the Brussel sprouts. Naill moved on undaunted however, getting fresh mushrooms as he'd set out to, red seedless grapes and ginger root. He grabbed wonton wrappers, carrots and bean sprouts, green onions, shallots and garlic too.
"Thought we weren't getting anything that can be delivered," Devlin challenged.
"I'm gonna make lumpia," Naill determined.
"What the hell is that?"
"Filipino style of egg roll, totally different fillings from the crap you get from the Chinese place downtown."
"Keep telling yourself that," Devlin chuckled, then let it drop.
In the drink aisle they bought bottled water and drink packets to flavor it, like what the hell were they gonna do with zero calorie anything but try telling Naill that. This healthy living shit was gonna kill them both and it was only the first day.
Heading down the pasta aisle they caught sight of a woman in a pea green oversized coat, several pockets adorning the front and a few inside judging from the way she swiped a package of orzo from the shelf and tucked it away. You couldn't even see the lump.
She grabbed three envelopes of sauce mix and slipped them in an outer pocket, then turned, studying the packages of summer sausage and other meats. They swiped the envelopes from her pocket as she was pondering the peperoni, and when her jacket swung open as she tucked the peperoni in, they snagged the orzo too, putting both back on the shelf. Whistling, they pretended to study the boxes of pasta, adding fettuccini and linguini to the cart while discreetly trailing her.
They liberated the peperoni from her pocket, and the pack of crust mix all while she was placing a container of parmesan cheese in her basket. When she glanced their way, they tossed a loaf of French bread in the cart on top of a couple jars of sauce, and then maneuvered around her, pretending to ignore the looks she shot their way.
To her own basket she added a small container of red pepper flakes, then gasped, when store security grabbed her arm.
"Ma'am, you need to empty your pockets," the officer said, the pointed look on his face making the woman cringe.
"I...what's the meaning of this?" she stammered.
"I think you know," the officer told her, his stern expression turning to shock as she turned each of her pockets out one by one only to reveal there was nothing in them.
"Doh," Naill muttered, face palming and shaking his head.
"How were we supposed to know they were doing their jobs," Devlin grumbled.
"Yeah, ‘cause assuming they weren't just worked out so well. Can we please learn a lesson from all this. Let's just our shopping done and go home. We can't police everyone."
"Wasn't trying to police anyone, just looking to keep the prices down. Companies gotta make up for theft loss someway, how do you think they do it; they pass it on to the consumer, that's how. I just didn't wanna end up paying for her pizza, especially when you won't even let me have one."
"For a week, one miserable week. You keep this up and we can make it a month."
"Yeah, you can fuck right off with that shit too."
"Don't you wish?"
Left with no choice, the security guard apologized and let her go, frowning and rubbing the back of his neck as he watched her hurry to the checkout counter and pay for the items in her basket. Was too much to hope she'd chalk it up to a lesson learned, some strange twist of fate that had kept her from getting arrested. Was more likely she'd head to another store and lift the shit she'd failed to get.
What the hell did they bother for anyway?


***Hope you'll return next week for the conclusion of Lactose Intolerant. Thank you so much for reading***

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