Wednesday, November 26, 2008

smith's during the week of thanksgiving

On Monday, my apartment and our neighboring apartment participating in "Roommate Dinner" so that the two apartment could bond and just have some stress-free time together. We all made a dish for dinner and gathered at one apartment and feasted (and feast, we did).

Before heading over, Leica and I needed to go buy ingredients for our dishes (Me: salad, Leica: pie) so we stopped by our local Smith's (Kroger to you Texas people). When speeding around the foreign grocery store looking for our supplies, we encountered a strange male looking for cookie dough, I tried to point him in the right direction, but wasn't too confident in what I was telling him. A few minutes pass by and I see him again, asking another person for the location of the cookie dough. This time, I remember where it usually is and I point him the right direction (toward the cheese). A few more minutes pass by and I realize that cream cheese should be over by the cheese so head in the direction. I find the same cookie-dough-searching male looking at the cookie dough. "Ah, you were right, I found it!" he proclaimed. I just smiled and headed over to my desired dairy product. More minutes pass by and I go in search of lettuce, not even paying attention to the fact that right behind me was the produce department. My mind was in a frenzie and I wasn't thinking straight. After going in a circle, I go back to where I started and see the produce. The cookie-dough-searching male is still looking at the cookie dough and sees me pass by him. "Are you stalking me?!" he asks in a joking manner. I wasn't in the mood to joke so I stare him right in the eyes and say "Yeah" ruder than I intended to and storm off toward the lettuce.

After collecting everything, Leica and I are waiting in line to checkout and the woman in front of us with her 10 or so year old daughter realizes she forgot her wallet in the car. She runs outside and leaves her daughter inside and within minutes comes back with a wad of cash (100 dollar bills) and hands one to the cashier. Weird, I think. The boy behind us in the line keeps his hands in his hoodie pocket until he pulls out a box of popcorn and throws it on the counter. He puts his hands back in his pocket and I can hear a plastic bag being crushed in his pocket. I think again, weird, but ignore it and head for the door once our transactions are done.

At the door we nearly run into a woman in a cowboy outfit looking at the homeowners guides. She is alone, but she talks to herself about the store not having the guide she wants. As she is stopped in the middle of the exit, everyone struggles to get through and a girl about my age and an older man rush by really quickly with something inside their coats. The older man pulls a crumbled receipt from his pocket and shows it to the cowboy-dressed lady as if she is questioning his purchases, but she doesn't even work there. The lady runs into Leica and quietly apologizes. I finally exit the store and in front of me is the handicap parking where a college-aged male parks his nice Mercedes and jumps out of the car, yelling back at the girl in the passenger seat to shut up, he'll only be a minute. Leica and I head over to her car and I are followed by the girl and the older man who are hiding something in their coats. They watch us as we get into our car and drive off.

As we exited the parking lot I felt like something bad was going to happen, like we needed to get out of there fast. You know how in a movie, before something bad happens--like a bomb goes off or a man pulls out a gun--they set the scene and a bunch of weird little things happen. Like you get to know the people who are about to die, but only in short little snippets of the five minutes before their lives end. That is exactly what I felt like.

Creepy. I hope nothing bad happened.

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