Out of Place- Episode 2: The Shop

“City life was noisy, all the cars and people and music. It was chaotic, and I felt small. But it was kinda nice to be insignificant, just to see it all move around you. But it was a lot, and even after leaving the city, the noise followed me—ships, cars, and trains, all blending together. So I’m just glad I’ve found somewhere to stay, I like being here in the suburbs with you.”

“I like being with you too.” Dell offered his normal gentle smile “Hey and I’m glad this place is a little less overstimulating for you too.” We drove along in the dimming sunlight of the evening to the convenience store.

I returned his smile, he was always such a good listener. I feel like he always really understands everything that I say.

We arrived at the shop. I always like coming around that time of day, there’s less people, and I can go with Dell. 

Our shopping cart rattled down the aisles of items. We grabbed different things to make something for throughout the week. Dell taught me tricks to meal prepping, he said that he grabs enough stuff to make two proper meals at the beginning of the week and some other things if he wants something different in between. Dell seems to always invite me to dinner, he always says he makes too much anyway so it’s pretty nice to eat with him. Because of this, I like to help out when he’s buying groceries because I feel bad for him using his money on both of us. 

“So, how’s your journaling/blogging been going?” Dell asked me in the produce aisle.

“Oh! Pretty good,” I said “I’ve only really finished one entry though. Two likes!”

“That’s cool!” He reached for some lettuce. “It’s nice that you’re getting back into it, you should let me read some of it sometime.”

We walked through the shop, the bright lights buzzed above us and down onto the linoleum. We were grabbing deserts when I asked Dell how his mother and brother were doing.

“They’re doing well,” He replied,  “Jake actually got a new job as a flight attendant a few weeks ago.” His face beamed with pride for his brother, but I could tell there was a tinge of sadness there because he wishes he could go places like that more often.

 After we had gotten all we needed we went to check out, today was a pretty normal shopping trip (though, I didn't ride in the basket this time). I scanned the shelves of magazines, celebrities, alien sightings, food. Their exaggerated titles and pictures always made me laugh to myself a bit.

We checked out our groceries and greeted the checkout clerk. She's a nice kid, I think her name is Theo. She was wearing these pretty Lily of the Valley earrings with a matching white blouse under her apron. 

The sliding doors wooshed by as we stepped out into the evening, as we got into the car I saw the clouds wrap around the setting sun like a dragon; painted with its typical hues of pink and orange. The colors of the sky and horizon somberly reminded me of home, but I know that this is where home really is.