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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