Disordered Groceries

Grocery shopping is always something we do. I miss that. Our various disorders demanded that, while others dined out fashionably, we had already picked slowly through the grocery store so we could prepare food at home. I revel in grocery shopping. My friends haphazardously get groceries when they think of it and buy random packages that catch their eye. Then they put it all away and forget about it for weeks and months. Not me. For me it is a science. Nothing ever ever ever wasted. Of course I know how much it will be and have the money out for the cashier before she can tell me the total.

And I have just moved across town.

So it means ALL NEW GROCERY STORES. And I have, in short order, found my grocery heaven: a store UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

Inside this store is mayhem. Empty freezers stand at wrong tight angles to carts of mixed nuts. The produce is hidden in the back of the store behind tarps so you can’t find it. The ceiling tiles are missing at random intervals, revealing dark cavernous heights. It is like no grocery store I’ve ever been in. Random and challenging my organization skills. And best of all…there are no people.

Today it was empty save for two (I am assuming) Jewish men searching for kosher salt. The staff, in the midst of this chaos and freed of the annoyance of customers depleting their shelves, are giddy. The Jews ask a man in an apron about the salt and he screams NANCY HONEY DID WE EVEN PUT THE KOSHER SALT OUT?

Finally, after humming pleasantly to myself (a song I have been listening to over and over) in the empty isles for far too long, I approach the bored cashier. I stare up at the line of flickering naked fluorescent bulbs just above her and think about seizures. Then I wonder, why am I the only grocery shopper who loves it here?