i went to make dinner this evening, and discovered we were out of butter. so, off i went to the grocery store, on foot, even though the sky and the forecast have threatened rain all day. i only got a little wet, but it's an eight-block round trip, so i had plenty of thinking time. as i am wont to do, i found my self lost in a memory that i'd forotten all about until just then. it makes me laugh...
(this little incident happened in '95...)
i'm in kroger with my girlfriend. we go to kroger together a lot. we do most everything together, it seems. we've been dating for several months and are quite comfortable around each other, that familiarity brought on by intimacy. there's not a lot of modesty between us.
we've come here to get things we've run out of. this kind of illustrates how things can become mundane after a while, in subtle ways. i am unfazed as she absently hands me a box of tampons to put into the basket. i'm neither embarrassed nor proud as i pull a 12-pack of trojans from the shelf and drop it in, next to the milk. we don't talk about it, we simply proceed to choose a suitable remedy for her upset stomach.
and now we're at the checkout. i'm looking absently into the distance as the cashier finally gets around to our stuff. my girlfriend nuzzles her forehead against my shoulder. i put my arm around her waist, give a slight hug, and mumble that we'll be back soon, so she can take the medicine.
finally, the cashier finishes scanning our stuff, so my girlfriend puts down her monstrous keychain with the sound of a windchime in a hurricaine, and starts to write the check. i notice the bagger is watching us as he works. he looks us up and down. i look like your average slob in ragged cutoff jeans, red high-top chuck taylors, and a comfortable t-shirt, except for the long blond ponytail and bent glasses. she's wearing an old, full-length, sleeveless denim dress, whose paint-stained hem barely reveals her battered black ballet slippers; the dress fits tight around the hourglass of her waist; her long, black, tangled hair gently caresses her exposed shoulders.
the bagger takes it all in. then he stops bagging for a moment to contemplate the box of trojans, which he turns over in his hands a time or two, before ceremoniously dropping it into the bag. my girlfriend now walks up behind me, her hand on my back as she tucks her checkbook into her pocket. as i reach for the bags, the bagger grins wide. "you guys have a great night!" he beams. i smile, reflexively reply "you too," and begin to walk towards the exit.
as we walk out into the early afternoon sun, she pauses for a moment, then points out to me that the guy specifically wished us a good night.
then we started to feel a little self-conscious...
Mon May 31 23:10:33 EDT 1999