It seems I had a big decision to make as my eyes moved across the variety of boxes. There were small pizzas, large pizzas, pizzas with extra cheese and special ingredients, pizza rolls, and pizza bites. I looked for the cheapest brand, picked it up, studied the box, decided I would need more cheese and turned toward the cheese. At the cheese, I picked up a bag of shredded Italian cheese and headed toward the register.
At the front of the store, I looked for the shortest line. The 20 items or less line had more than a dozen people in line so I opted for a shorter line. As I waited, I heard a familiar voice and it was the woman with the coupon from before.
"It's that stupid guy you listen to on the radio. If you didn't listen to that garbage, you'd be way better of, I'm telling you, that guy ain't got nothing important to say and you're dumb for listening to him," he said.
"I like him and I think he's smart," she said.
"OF course you think he's smart. He just tells you and half of America what to think and then you think it and feel all smart or something. You and the rest of the fools that listen to him ain't smart. If you was, you wouldn't...
Yeah, nothing -- just like the nothing that your dude on the radio spouts off everyday," he said, spilling the contents of his arms onto the counter.
"Filling my head with enough courage to leave you once the income tax comes in," she said.
"Will you quit mumbling? For heaven's sake, I can't make out a word you're saying."
"I know. I'm sorry," she said.
I could feel the pizza box warming in my hands as I looked toward the express lane and realized there was only one person waiting there. I stepped quickly into that line and sighed, wiping my head. The older man ahead of me smelled like smoke. His hair was grey and his scalp was flaking around the hairline. He was shorter than me and from the side, he looked very tired. He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a handful of dollar bills to pay for toilet paper and liquid detergent.
Pizza in my world seemed suddenly insignificant.
