The Wheels of Commerce

Today, I went to the new Whole Foods, which was certainly designed by Satan. By Satan I mean that guy who makes you believe you can have whatever you want whenever you want it. There are about 1258 different kinds of cheese at that store. Also, all these different counters to sit and eat, including one where you can bring them a piece of fish that you've plucked from the cool waters of the fresh fish counter and they will cook it right up for you and you can eat it on the spot. Naturally, I love it there.

After lunch (Bento Box. Eaten at the Bento Box Counter. Mmmmmm.) I did a little shopping, pretty much avoiding the kind of stuff I always want to buy (fancy mushrooms) in favor of stuff we will actually eat in this house (cheese flavored crackers in the shape of tiny ducks). As I was checking out, I was talking shop with the cashier, which I almost always do, in case it works out that I go back to work in grocery. (Sometime I'll tell you how working grocery is really just like ministry). So I was telling the sweet young man how it was my first time in there, so I was a little overwhelmed, and how sometimes the abundance in America really is just so surprising, even though I'm from here, when the electricity went out.

All the music, all the white noise of 367 freezers and coolers, all the lights - gone. I know you're worrying about my pile of groceries melting on the cash register belt, as well as hassle caused by missing the afternoon appointments I was already late for. But worry not, reader. All else may fail, but at Whole Foods Downtown, the cash registers are always powered up. Don't ask me how.

Also, the elevator, which was a good thing because when I'd paid for my groceries (Eighty bucks! Gack! And that was without the fancy mushrooms!) I asked for directions to the stairway so I could walk back to the parking garage, the cashier and bagger both started talking at once.

"We dont....crazy...no stairs....well, way in back...I dont even know....not sure where they are....somewhere back there....for emergencies only...."

Then me: "Dude. The electricity is out. Doesn't this qualify as an emergency?"

Cashier and bagger: ((giggles))

I rode the elevator back to my car and drove away.

And thought about my friend traveling in India right now - teaching clowning to poor kids in Mumbai. I wondered if her lights were on.