Bumper Cars At Wal-mart

Being a starving writer, I like many other shop at Wal-Mart. It’s not my favorite place to go but it will do. I also have an adult daughter, Beth who has special needs and is handicapped. She comes to Wal-mart with me. My daughter has mobility issues and tires from walking long distance. Taking her to a store reduced me to a cheerleader as I cheer her on to finish getting things on our list. 

Recently, she mastered the electric shopping cart. Hurray! It was a feat and I wasn’t sure she could do it to be honest. I had images running through my mind of her running into walls, small children and other shoppers at a high rate of speed. Rest assured, she does all that slowly! Prior to the electric shopping carts my words were: “You can do it! Just a little more.” Now my words are: “Shit, where did she go?”

I find if I listen I can usually pick up the distinct annoying, high pitch beep of the backup alarm the carts employ. I think I must have found her and duck into the next isle only to find someone else on yet another cart. As I observe the carts, drivers and small children running amok, I can only akin the electric carts to bumper cars. The carts do bounce off stuff rather well over all but they are not very corner-friendly and if you cut it too close you get hung easily. 

So, once I find my missing adult child who has covered more store footage than me, we can do our shopping and somehow squeeze a weeks worth of food into a much smaller wire basket. 

Part of my job shopping at Wal-mart is to also traffic director for my daughter to see around the corners. My other job is to ensure my toes remain intact and the small child darting up and down around us somehow, miraculously doesn’t become as statistic in the Wal-mart shopping cart accident report. I really hate shopping!