A Cop Story

Prologue: Cleaning up took me ages tonight. I had several customers knocking on the window, wanting to ask me questions, and my boss called, wanting to know what he wrote on his grocery list, and then I called him to ask if I should clean the grinder. My boss also wants the floor cleaned real well. I feel really bad taking so long to clean up, but part of the reason was because my blood sugar started to crash and I just can’t move as fast when that starts to happen.

Real story: I was fighting with the mop bucket when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone come into our little, deserted parking lot. There were two men, muscular, wearing all black. There was no one else around.

I think Who am I going to have to scream off? and then I see the little gold accessories and the radios.

“Did you call us?” a brown-haired officer hollered to me.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Okay," he said. "…What’s your address?”

I told him, and he nodded to the bald officer behind him. One went ahead and the other backtracked.

So there I am, wearing my shirt that reads DETECTIVE - WE’LL SOLVE NO CRIME ‘TIL OVERTIME. Then, I realize that there are apartments above the shop. I’ve only ever seen people going into them two or three times since last summer, but I thought it possible that someone from there could have called 911. The brown-haired officer reappeared, I called out my suggestion.

“Nah, it’s okay. We got it,” he said.

That was when I heard someone yelling from the alley. As much as I wanted to drop the mop bucket and run down the parking lot to see if someone was getting tased, an uneasy thought entered my brain. Hey, it said, you’re by yourself and someone nearby just called 911. Stop thinking about the fun that could be just around the corner, and concentrate on getting cleaned up and going home.

So I did. By the time I walked my bike across the alley, there was no sign of cops, victims, and the accused. I was sad. (LOL)

But now I really want to watch COPS. Maybe someday, my mad cooking skillz will get me into a police department. I can brew cofffee, too.

How Ratatouille Started

Breakfast:




A partially-scrambled egg with carrot, green pepper, brocolli and corn wrapped in a tortilla with a half slice of cheese.



Lunch:

(No pic, saahhry)

Fresh deli ham, provolone cheese, pesto sauce and spinache on Italian bread, and grilled on a panini grill.


Dinner:



Fresh lettuce, bacon, tomato sprinkled with red wine vinegar, a little mayo on a hamburger bun.




I love food. I love cooking.

The Happiest Person

At the grocery, there was a man who I guessed was mentally handicapped from the way he talked, walked and reacted to things. He was with a woman, and the two were probably in their late 30’s. When he was coming through the aisle, he said asked me to move and then added “I didn’t want to hit you!” and we both kind of laughed. At first I was annoyed, and it caught me a little off guard to realize that–hey, maybe that person can’t help that behavior.\

Our clerk scowled and whipped each and every can of orange juice into the empty cart, almost with added emphasis. My dad asked her to please not throw in the cartons of yogurt because they would break and splatter. She set one down roughly, tossed the other in, and winged more hard things on top of them. Yes, I know clerks want to get to the next person, but this was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

I stepped back, not wanting to be in the line of fire, and noticed that the man and woman were finishing with their order a few registers away. The clerk finished their order, took the woman’s money, but then scanned two more things on a separate order. The man watched and grinned, like these were his items.

“9.78,” the cashier said.

The woman handed him a $10 bill and the man next to her put an arm around her and, beaming, said “Thanks, sis!” He seemed so happy. Our clerk was still scowling and waited in frustration as my dad took out his wallet.

In the meantime, the man and his sister were getting ready to bag up their items, when the man turned to his own cashier and said “God bless you!”

It was really sweet, but got me thinking…Between our clerk and the man, who was the happiest and most full of life? Why do we expect it to be differently?