In the ten items or less line, I stand, at Star Market,
with my three tomatoes and tub of chicken salad.
In front of me a harried housewife chats amiably.
The smiling clerk scans the lunch meats
and go-togethers, while the computer beeps.
I skim the covers of the magazines in the rack
to learn that people I don’t know
are friends with other people I don’t know.
Then it happens. The receipt tape breaks.
The smiling clerk methodically replaces it.
The smiling clerk in a pleasing tone speaks,
“That will be nineteen dollars and thirty seven cents.”
With a look of surprise, the shopper says,
“oh, yes, just a minute.”
as if she never expected to be asked to pay.
Rifling through her purse, she counts
twenty nine cents, uttering “No, I can’t do it that way”.
The smiling clerk says “take your time.”
The customer takes out a ten and then finds
a five and with a determined face finds three ones,
another one then another one. She smiles
at the clerk as if triumphant.
Smiles all around!
The smiling clerk voices “How are you today, sir?”
I step forward with six dollars clutched in my hand.
"my three tomatoes"
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