Today I ran a bunch of errands, including the thrift store, grocery store, bank and pet store, in that order. The thrift store parking lot gets crazy at noon since there are many restaurants next to it, so I went there before noon to get a spot.
The older volunteer at the thrift store was in a bitchy mood. The cashier was fine, but the woman calling out the prices was unhappy with all the good deals I’d found.
“These are English saucers. Why are they so cheap? What do you want with just the saucer, anyway?”
“I bought the matching cup on Monday,” I said.
That really got her goat. She called out my child’s picture book, fifty cents, as an adult book, $2.00.
“That’s a children’s book,” I said. “Eve Bunting is a famous children’s book author.”
“Hmpf!” she said. “Fifty cents!”
I wondered if Eve Bunting is still around. I met her in 1989, and she was older than I was. I’m 69, so that would make her . . .
As I was leaving the pet store, I sat in my car that I had pulled forward so that I could leave and not back up. A car alarm was sounding somewhere behind me. An older woman was walking in front of my car, got confused, checked to make sure it wasn’t her car alarm, as I waited for her to get out of my way.
Meanwhile, an older man was approaching on foot from the left, so now I had two pedestrians to look out for. The car alarm was not turning off, as we all stood or sat frozen, not sure why that obnoxious noise hadn’t been shut down by now.
The woman finally was out of my way, and the old guy was almost out of my way when I glanced into the rearview mirror and saw a car full of people in the parking spot I had just vacated, their car making all the noise.
Were they trying to get me to move forward? Did they not see the pedestrians? Were they trying to make me mad so that I would get out of my car and then they would knock me down and steal my purse/car/phone?
Ha ha, the joke’s on them. I didn’t realize the noise was being directed at me. I thought it was some random car. Besides, I was busy watching out for pedestrians.
Sometimes it’s good to be clueless. It keeps me out of trouble.
P.S. Eve Bunting passed away last October according to Google. She was 94.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 