A Kindness

It's been a long day.

The kind of day where my motivation

And procrastination

Couldn't decide which of the two looked better on me.

So they dressed me in mediocrity

And sent me on my way.

On my way to a day

Where none of my childhood dreams came true.

A day even Dr. Suess,

Probably would have rhymed with suckish.

Where the most exciting thing that happened to me

Was that my gas light came on.

And to top it all off.

I'm stuck in line at my least favorite place.

Walgreens.

Fuck Walgreens.

Got me all excited about their “membership,”

Then elected to price their products so high

The “membership"

Only served to bring them back down to reality.

It's killing me.

That they call 35 cents

Off of greediness

A bargain.

And this hag in front of me is pulling out her fucking check book.

Lady!

I am sure the 1930s were a swell time.

But some things

Are not better the old fashioned way.

And her hands shake.

As she signs for her

Gallon of water,

Six bananas,

Loaf of bread,

Jar of peanut butter,

Apple granola bars,

Four bottles of Gatorade,

Two Hershey's chocolate bars,

(because why the hell not?)

Three packs of spearmint gum,

And those chocolate cakes from Hostess.

And I only know this,

Because in the time it took for her to find that checkbook,

In that suitcase

On her arm,

They put a man on Neptune!

And oh brilliant,

She forgot the milk.

And as we all wait

For the store associate

To run and grab her calcium liquid,

I begin

To associate this old woman with purgatory.

This must be

The stuck behind the arthritic old lady at the grocery store level.

And I'm sure,

For some,

This level isn't that bad.

But it's been a long day.

And this woman

Smells like old people.

And I’m beginning to wonder

How she escaped from the nursing home?

But right before I ask this fossil

"What the Great Depression was like?"

Mercifully,

The associate comes back with her 1%.

The cash register dings.

And opens.

It's over.

At least I didn't kill an old woman today.

She collects her belongings,

And at a speed evolution would respect,

Moves so slowly to the door

That I scan my item,

Pay for it,

Receive my card,

And receipt,

Go to leave,

And she has just now reached the front doors.

Where she's conveniently

Blocking the only exit.

Old lady.

You picked the wrong day to examine my morality.

I surge

To give her a sharp push,

Into the portrait frame of my day.

But I miss.

Because she's tricked me and is surprisingly swift

As she makes a sharp right.

And as I stumble through the door

I struggle to regain composure

As my mind works to clarify the scenario I'm seeing.

I pause...

As my day's largest mountain

Kneels down.

And the burden she carries,

Is unloaded on the homeless man

Laying down at the front of the store

With the sign that reads,

"You are loved."

A gallon of water,

Six bananas,

Loaf of bread,

Jar of peanut butter,

Apple granola bars,

Four bottles of Gatorade,

Two Hershey's chocolate bars,

Because why the hell not?

Three packs of spearmint gum,

And those chocolate cakes from Hostess.

And of course,

The 1% milk almost forgotten.

As she empties every item in her bag,

For the first time today

My mind is quiet.

As I bear witnesses to a development.

This

This is what love looks like.

With a smile and a wave

She says goodbye

To the man who will probably never know the name

Of the whisper of humanity on two legs walking away.

But as she turns back,

To procure her original purpose,

I stop her and ask her “who she is”?

And with a smile

Like a vaccine,

Curing my melancholy disease,

She says to me

“I'm Ingrid.”

“Ingrid,

Thank you.

For making this day

Beautiful.”