Grocery Store

Last night, after dinner, Science Girl initiated a trip to the grocery store, saying she needed to purchase cayenne pepper. It seems that Science Girl had carefully planted flower bulbs in very precise rows, only to realize that rabbits were undoing and disrupting her design. Her gardening buddies had instructed her to spread cayenne pepper on top of the bulbs she'd planted, saying this would keep the rabbits away.

Science Girl looked surprised when I announced we would all accompany her. I thought it would be a good time to get the boys to each fill a bag of food items to donate to the food bank, a project our synagogue does every year. And, I wanted Secret Service to find something that he'd be willing to eat for lunch at school.

When we arrived at the store, Secret Service claimed he was thirsty and asked to buy a soda. I said no. Sport asked for candy. I said no. I reminded them why we'd come to the store. Secret Service shrugged and said he didn't have an opinion on what to buy for the food bank. He wandered off, presumably to shop for something that he could take to school for lunch. Sport enthusiastically suggested we buy sushi for the food bank. Even though we'd talked about this in the car on the way to the store, I re-explained the concept of a pantry and of needing to select food with a shelf life.

Sport and I walked to the cereal aisle. I told him to pick a cereal for the food bank using one of the coupons I had. Sport said he didn't like any of those cereals. I explained again that these cereals weren't for us. As we were finalizing our selections, Secret Service re-appeared, holding a box of pretzels, saying these would make a good lunch. I said no. Secret Service and Sport started to shove each other and then ran off, chasing each other.

I meandered over to the bean aisle. A minute later, Sport ran up, sweating, panting, and looking over his shoulder. I said, "Pick two bags of beans, the ones for $.99." Quickly, Sport grabbed one bag of kidney beans, threw it in the cart and then, still looking over his shoulder, darted off. Meanwhile, Secret Service came back around, nothing in his hands, claiming he couldn't find anything that he'd want to eat for lunch.

I found Science Girl, perusing the spices. Breathless, Sport appeared, inquired about the cayenne, protested, saying that the cayenne was a bad idea because small children in the neighborhood liked to dig in our garden and then lick their hands. I eyed him, suspiciously. I said, "I've never seen any small children in our garden. I have seen you in there." Just then, Secret Service approached and Sport, a big smile on this face, attempted to trip Secret Service. They started to punch each other.

The grown ups separated the boys and then to divide and conquer, Science Girl went with Secret Service into the deli department to find something for his lunch. I took Sport in a different direction, the pasta aisle, where he chose packages of spaghetti for our food bank donation. Sport had a lot of other ideas too, insisting that watermelon would be a great addition to the items for the food bank. Eventually, with Science Girl's help, Secret Service agreed to some roast beef. However, he explained that he'd rather buy his lunch at the restaurants around his school and didn't understand why we wouldn't give him more than $10 a week to do so. I explained I'd like to eat my lunch out every day too, but it was just too expensive. Secret Service became engrossed in a rack of gift cards and Sport was admiring the watermelons. I selected the rest of the items for the food bank.

On the way home, everyone was quiet, thinking their own thoughts about gift cards, watermelon, cayenne pepper and the like. Another successful shopping trip.