SLICE #29- Today I went to the grocery store...

 

To tell you the truth, I didn't even think about it. 

We were completely out of milk. 

Galaxy had about one more day of dog food. 

And so I went to King Soopers, where I shop pretty much every week. 

And where there was a massacre last Monday.

I don't shop at the King Soopers in Boulder,

that's about thirty minutes away from me,

but I shop at the branch in my neighborhood. 

Today, I walked in the door, and saw the front manager holding a sign about how to contribute to a fund for the victims. It had all ten names listed on it. And I thought about the 25-year-old front end manager that was gunned down last week. Some reports said it looked like she was trying to lock the doors when she was shot. 

I saw a dad shopping with two preschoolers,

and a mom with a baby that looked pretty young. 

And I thought about parents, shopping with their children in Boulder last week. 

I wonder whether those little ones will ever be able to walk into a grocery store again. 

I saw an elderly woman shopping with someone who I assumed was her daughter 

She had an oxygen tank in.a bag over her shoulder. 

I thought about all of the times I have taken my mom to the grocery store.

She uses a walker and doesn't move very fast. 

And I wondered what we would have done

if something had happened.

In the back of the store, 

just to the left of where I picked up my gallon of milk,

there was a door with a big orange sign,

"Emergency Exit only,"

I don't remember seeing that sign before,

and I wondered if it was there last week. 

The guy who checked me out today was pretty grumpy,

he told me no, I couldn't leave my thirty pound bag of dog food

under the cart, I needed to put it on the belt,

the checkers usually tell you not to worry, they will take care of it,

I wondered what he was thinking about,

maybe he didn't want to bend over,

or be in a position where he couldn't see everything.  

And the baggers- one of the women killed was a Special Olympian--

she had worked at the store for more than thirty years. 

As I walked out, I noticed the security guard,

He was wearing mirrored glasses, and you couldn't see his eyes.

I wonder what he would have done 

in the situation last week.

Today I went to the grocery store,

I wonder if it will ever be the same again.