Meat Department (second cutlet)

they fixed him with their eyes 

and he met  each  and  every  one  of their eyes    which screamed Violated and Who the fuck do you think you are  despite the religious necklaces at their gullets  which were worn more like chokers(and someday might actually accomplish the feat)

Thank you ladies

on the other side of the Cherries  of Scylla Charybdis and whomever the third was

nearly out the end of the aisle  safely out of earshot

his girlfriend chided him that he rarely verbally assault fat men in his riffs  because there were plenty of fat men

to go around too

I dont disagree theres a number of fat men  of fat people in America  who probably prefer the PC obese  oh boy  though nothing about me is PC  but youll have to agree with me  Id assume  that fat men dont congregate  they aint like fat women  like H-two-O 

she screwed up her face

                                          two atoms of hydrogen one atom of oxygen    threesomes

and  if you consider it  every fat man weve ever come upon in the grocery store has kept his cart  and himself  to one side of the aisle or the other

Theyre aware theyre in an aisle  and by logic  Ill ascribe them that theyre also aware  even accidentally  they might be in someones way  though only momentarily so

she ran it through her head   of their experiences

--   I have to give you that

--   Thank you

Theyre courtesy fat men

Its not like anyone can obscure or deny that theyre fat  is it

No

And fat  no matter  is the correct adjective

If you dont want to be called fat  dont be fat

--   Some people arent well

--   And likely unwell  because their fat their weight  isnt helping the equation

I know people wholly use illness

as an excuse to be fat

Fat dont happen in the snap of fingers 

Does it

--   No

that exchange took them out to the front aisle of the store before the Check-Outs  across from swollen endcaps and impromptu tables set-up with sweets on them  impossible to miss  as planned  the last gauntlet of spontaneous temptation

they went hard left towards the Produce at the aisles end

some fresh vegetables were the last of their purchase to acquire 

he wasnt distracted by anything  not by any want-of for the necessary-things he was there for

she  however  was unlike him(opposites do attract) and occasionally starstruck and dazzled and nearly childlike in her disappointment when she heeled to gasped and entertain some particular stock that caught her fancy

and whatever it was  in hand  shed turn from the faced shelves only to find him at the far end of the aisle  patiently waiting for her to replace the item and continue their shopping  mutely indicating  pointing in the direction he was about to disappear into  holding his hand like a pistol jabbing a couple three times(into a gangsters back  shoving the braced or wrists-tied vic into a forest off Frosts less traveled road  in his other hand a short spade to dig a shallow grave)

when they garnered their vegetables  having already acquired their Sale and couponed items in their ever-diminishing handheld basket(another corporate ploy  --  attempting the psychology to embarrass their shopper  --  that shopper who is made uncomfortable by wheeling up to the Cashier with but a few items in their huge wheeling cart  --  whose items look inconsolably at one another  trying very hard  sympathetically  to share in their buyers frugality  yet visually mocking them  --  Do you see how cheap I am  Do you see how lazy I am  pushing around a nearly empty cart    and of course the ploy of the baskets pushed by every human being in the store into the ever-narrowing aisles and the ever-fattening men and women clogging its arteries  --  forcing obstructions  --  and the obstacles placed in their ways to overcome  --  slowing everyones egress and exit from the store  --  making the thing of a quickstop  breezing-through  to exist only in the shoppers mind  --  the paths have been mined  --  tall cardboard displays placed in aisles to impede traffic  --  a pair of orange cones on the linoleum floor at either end of where something was accidentally dropped broken and spilled  --  or was it  --  and is still Dangerously Wet  --  pass at your own peril  --  you drop and hurt yourself  --  those cones are Management telling you  Its on you  No lawsuit baby  --  and the Danger clearly demarcated is surveiled by the stores cameras  recording for insurance purposes  and to mitigate thief  --  which he had sympathy for  --  there had been more than several times he entered a supermarket and liberated slices of bread and packaged meat and had himself a clandestine sandwich as he walked through the store and then out again after a few quaffs of cold milk from a quart and a handful of nuts from a convenient easy-opening tin  --  it was a phase)

having finally made the Check-Out they were stoked

they damn near worked an obscene choreography between them  from him handing off items from inside the basket  to her savagely snatching them out of his hands  or despoiling his methodology  too anxious to get out of Dodge  wanting to grab some herself speed up the process  him feigning forward to let her have at them  then suddenly reeling back with it  amid peals of their laughter

who  EVER  laughs in a grocery line

she held a pen between her sharp white teeth and fingered a nearly completed check in her back pocket  at her rump

--   Can you get that for me  she asked

he grabbed a handful of ass

Nice

How bout the check

--   Oops

--   As if you didnt see it

--   Distracted I was  Much too nice an ass to avoid the temptation  Theres a lot of it around here

Temptation

that is

besides   there were no children in the line nor within earshot     

and then  with all the items lurching and staggering down the conveyer  they became more stoked as cash melted off

the register the slithering paper receipt by the resourcefulness of their hot coupons and taking full advantage of the in-store Sales

they would save 57% when the final tally was made

they didnt know that then

with the work done they actually enjoyed and bathed in the music playing over the PA

drifting down onto them like a shimmering mist  refreshing cool rain on a bright sunlit day or feathery snowflakes hushing down through a stark black sky

she stood across from the cashier entering their savings-code and waiting to write their check

he stood at the end of Check-Out and worked the conveyer belt to bring their items to him so he could bag them in the bags she purchased

“Our house is a very very fine house with two cats in the yard life used to be so hard” played over them

they looked at one another  smiling  acknowledging Crosby Stills Nash and Youngs Our House  much like their house

they were nearly escaped

the PA music was interrupted  frankly  by a pleasant voice for a change  not the usual shrill command or demand of someone

pleasant

maybe also caught up in the vibe and lyrics of the song

Attention  Meat Department 201  Meat Department 201

as he bagged their foodstuff he laughed to himself at the quiet announcement

his mind calculating  reeling with the greed of laughter 

                                                                       

he was the bagger because she knew he was imminent better at it  had been a sublime Tetris player  packing moving trucks for five years helped

Meat Department 201

as she completed their transaction  taking up the duplicate check the receipt from the cashiers hand  capping the ball point pen  walking down towards him at the foot of the cashier counter  he grabbed the two colorful vinyl bags by their straps

--   Did you want help with those

she subtly interrupted him

                                                                                                                   

he wanted to tell her something
--   No thanks love  Ive got them

she smiled

over the PA  interrupting the ending of Our House    Meat Department 201

she said

--   Are you sure you dont want me to take those  Sounds like youre wanted elsewhere

Meat Department 201                                              

--   Damn You preempted me

--   As if I couldnt see that coming

--   Damn  Well then here  you take these bags

When Meats needed who am I to deny their call

Cant believe they knew I was here

--   No you take the bags and get to the car  Thats me coming over the PA 

Id like to be coming elsewhere

his eyebrows disappeared somewhere into his hairline 

hustling out to the car in his head he heard Zappas What Kind of Girls Do You Think We Are?**  as he trailed her  watching a pair of puppies playful playing in her pants

                                                                                         YEOW 

 

1614,  Twosday,  9  6. 15

1610,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  10  6. 15

             

** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dp5FdyYxHs         

Meat Department (one of two cutlets)

sometimes when you reach back   go long                                                                                      

you pluck the plum
snatch it from out of the sky
                              and its probably best when it happens in common places 
uncommon happenings in common surroundings are far more thrilling  and edifying

than them happening in superlative places  which would seem incorporated

in the Fantastic

she read over his shoulder

--   My love sometimes youre so full of shit

--   Wow  And youd begin it how Ms Smartypants

--   From the beginning

--   The beginning

--   The beginning

snagging ahold of some old cinema

--   The beginning The beginning   You cant handle the beginning . . .

--   Aw boy

                                                                                                                                                   

--   . . . and my existence  while grotesque and incomprehensible to you  saves lives
You dont want the beginning . . . 
                                                                                                               

--   I dont want to listen to this please    

--   . . . you opened the door  sweets

--   I did I did                                 

Idid     

Continue                                                                                                                      

--   . . . thank you . . . he cleared his throat and continued his best Nicholson . . . You dont want the beginning because deep down in places you dont talk about at parties you want me on that wall  you need me on that wall           
We use words like honor code loyalty  We use these words as the backbone of life spent defending something  

You use them as a punchline 

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a woman who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner inwhichI provide it 

I would rather you just said thank you  and went on your way . . .

--   Thank you

                                                                                                                                    

You finished

--   Yah You impressed

I think I remembered it correctly

I think

--   Yes  sounded right

But you always impress me 

Did you impress yourself 

--   Idid

Been awhile since I had a chance to unroll it

--   Yes  Doesnt lend itself to being unrolled  You tortured it a bit 

--   Yah  Guantanamoed it

But itll always be that season till its closed


things like that from the days of Bushwhacked America those were unforgettable parcels that hung in the air between them that they wouldnt let fold be unspoken                                                                                                                                         

the unmitigated idiocy 

the equally and apparent American bloodthirstiness  

It had to have its revenge  and was blinded to an oblique reality

which they thought was obvious  the best reply

a concerted worldwide intelligence effort

everyone having skin in the game  not the bullshit Youre either with U.S. or against U.S. 

most countries already had more skin into it than the United States

but to be sure that backronym that infamous backburnered USA PATRIOT Act* 

was aching like a pair of red white and blue balls wanting to come loose

bust a nut

and we were off  and ignored

and ignorantly misled

it was things like that  

that got in the way

they still got in the way

but to-day was something else

an aligning of stars

the perfect fucking storm

armed with need for their larder

a mitt full of coupons

and a wholly unexpected sale

they nearly pranced into the most foreboding place on the planet that they could imagine 

the supermarket

to do the ungodly chore of buying provisions

managing its irrationally stocked shelves and disparate placements of product      

retarded endcaps for instance tortillas  placed beside a bank of freezers for frozen foods ten aisles away from a small display of Mexican food beside Chinese food  and then the various spices and seasonings they needed in yet another aisles three aisles away nearly in Produce on a slender erect cardboard display of parceled cellophane bags

a good portion of the time the advertised Sales items were out of stockOops!(probably didnt think theyd endure the Courtesy Counter for rain checks -- they did)

and then the forever Cherries atop a Hot Fudge Sundae whipped cream and nuts

the fat women who blocked the aisles without their shopping carts but also had carts filling the aisles  and were unresponsive  oblivious to their polite Excuse us  please excuse us Um  Excuse me   Please Would you please excuse us

Pardon me  Excuse me please

obviously he wasnt hitting the dog whistle pitch meant for their hanging arms awesome drooping breasts or fat asses

to make like Moses to part the Red Sea

E X C U S E   M E ! !

his voice carried like a gunshot

she would have preferred to retreat back down the aisle and gone around bypassing their jiggling clot            

he would rather suffer the pains of Hell than do that
                                                       because they werent the ones who were being inconsiderate rude(they knew damn well they were congregating in a public place a grocery store aisle and the only way he could see fit to ignore or forgive their blatant rudeness was if some muscular fantasy fairy lifted them up from out of their kitchens as it appeared they were assuming as much according to their dress and then set rematerialized their considerable asses down in the aisle without breaking their ankles(a feat) beside half-filled shopping carts that held their purses)

Jesus she said under her breath

the collective three dully turned their rubbery elasticized necks to glare at them

their glares compounding  --  which he recognised everywhere they went together  --  particularly when the looks were coming off women  --  their glares narrowed  focused like red laser beams past him  --  onto his girlfriend  who looked ten years younger than she was  at her handsome toned figure  her dropdead gorgeous(even if he did say so) exotic face  under her nearly jetblack short bangs

they snorted like discontented hogs waiting to be slopped

-- Evidently you were too involved in your conversation to hear our pleas  asking if we could be excused so we could pass 

May we pass  please

they continued their glares  perhaps as if they thought they could make them disappear

not waiting to hear which one would have the mouth for the three he grasped the nearest shopping cart pulling it back behind the woman immediately to his left If we move this one to your back(this woman had gobbled up most of the aisle by herself and stood with her backside to their approach  a foot from the shelves) that should purchase us enough room for us to pass                                                                        

We dont need much room          

Jesus really  dont need much room  she said to the back of his head

they fixed him with their eyes 

and he met each  and  every  one  of their eyes   which screamed Violated and Who the fuck do you think you are  despite the religious necklaces at their gullets which were worn more like chokers(and someday might actually accomplish the feat)

Thank you ladies
  

1614,  Twosday,  9  6. 15

1610,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  10  6. 15

* Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001