On The Wal-Mart Front

Back from Lake Erie...still in Ohio. One short story to pass on which ties into the passing of Marlon Brando. I won't get into the somewhat morbid disappointment among members of our family that our usual flurry of celebrity deaths hit a dearth this year.

Anyway...a couple of days after Mr. Brando's passing I'm in Super Wal-Mart in Sandusky with Amy - we have traveled to Sandusky because no other Wal-Mart in the region is "super"...this is stuff women understand and people like me tolerate. Anyway, we have split up the latest family compiled shopping list of must have items to speed things along if at all possible and I'm wandering the aisles on one side of the mega store, a half mile or so away from Amy. I see a young woman struggling to get through her shopping with her two small children.

The youngest child is perhaps 18 months old...maybe 2 and is sitting in the shopping cart. The second child is holding his impatient Mom's hand and being dragged along while speaking non-stop.

I eavesdrop on the conversation long enough to hear this exchange:

Small boy, "The other night you and Daddy said it was cute"
Impatient Mom, "Well, that was the other night...at home...now it's not cute"

Small boy, "How could it be cute one night and then not be cute?"
Mom, "I don't have time to explain it to you. We have shopping to do. Everything has a time and a place"

Small boy, "I still don't understand"

As the mother guides her small family around the corner into another aisle I hear the smallest child chime in...Loudly.

Suddenly the entire conversation makes sense.

Although by now they are some distance away, there is no denying what the little boy is yelling.

"STELLA! STELLA!!!"