Food Stamps

*This post is different than most of the others. I wrote it while Micah was in school a few years back. Yes, I was that pregnant lady eating a corn dog with her kids down the aisles of the grocery store with a wallet full of coupons.*

A pony-tailed girl with a half-eaten corn dog pulled the cart parallel to the cashier.

 “You must be mama’s big helper,” the cashier cooed as she took in the cartload of two toddlers and an infant car seat besides. “I just love babies. I wouldn’t have time for any myself, working and all, but I do admire you!” she winked at the mother, who met her eyes politely, then returned to matching food stamp coupons to milk and other such necessities. The cashier’s painted eyebrows raised at the line growing behind her, then violently converged when she saw the number of coupons before her. The baby awoke in cries that would frighten a mountain lion.  

“Can I offer you a simple suggestion next time, honey? It works best if you don’t wait to use all the coupons at once, as it requires a great deal of time, you see.” She spat the words out as if they left a bad taste in her mouth.

The mother inhaled, apologized to the folks clustered behind her, then bounced the sweaty red-faced baby on her hip. The toddlers were sword fighting with their leftover corn dog sticks, while the pony-tail girl hushed them in a motherly manner.

The plastic fingernails of the cashier made fantastic clicks as she entered the food stamp codes into the computer. The baby was captivated by the exaggerated click-click-click. Even the dueling toddlers put down their swords. While they admired her noisy fingers, the mother seemed to sink further into the ground with every pounding. 

“Well, we got through that!” the cashier celebrated, wiping symbolic sweat from her brow. 

The mother juggled the baby while placing bags around the toddlers like pieces of a puzzle. 

 “Here, take some stickers from your favorite cashier!” And with that she threw them into the cart like a princess at a parade, throwing candy from a platform.