One day I was meandering along the bakery aisles at my local discount grocery store. As I reached the bulk bins of bagels and stopped to consider the choices, a woman behind the counter in an official store apron saw me and shook her head in a sad sort of way. My eyebrows collected into a question mark as I gazed at her. She seized her opportunity, “It’s a real shame that we have to keep most of the bagels behind the counter right now.” My question mark got bigger. “Yep,” she said, “it was just too bad when those boys spit in the bins the other day.”
Thus, I faced several crises. I could not figure out how the bakery had decided which bagels to remove to safer ground and which to leave in spitting range. And what exactly did “right now” mean? Was there a time limit on bagel protection? On the social justice side of shopping, I wondered whether I should rush behind the counter in a show of solidarity against bagel spitting. In the end, I opted for a non-activist yet slightly supportive stance. “Wow, that’s really gross,” I said, as the question mark slid into what I hoped was a sympathetic sort of grimace while I slowly pushed my cart out of conversational range.
I no longer buy bulk food from bins with lids shoppers (or spitting boys) can open. Especially bagels.
Literary wanderings 