Friday, December 9
Our first full day at our camp near Blythe, California, and what do we do? Go to Fart & Smile (aka Smart & Final). The grocery store.
Of course!
On the way into town, I’m startled by an unusual sight.
“What is that over there?”
“Oh, they’re SHEEP!”
I turn onto the side road that runs along the canal and park.
“Wait here a minute, Reggie. I want to take a picture.”
I climb up on the berm by the canal and take a few photos of the enormous flock.
I’ve never seen so many sheep in one place!
Fitting them all in the frame at this close range is impossible.
Back on the road to Blythe . . . .
When one doesn’t have a working refrigerator, one must make frequent trips to the grocery store. My dead fridge has led me to try food I wouldn’t consider otherwise. Needing to stock protein that doesn’t require refrigeration, I decide to give canned lentil soup a try.
Yeah, lentil soup.
Lentils, as you probably know, are high in protein and “good for you.” Too bad they look like Hell In A Bowl. Little brown pellets lying in a thick brown liquid.
Gah.
Anyway . . . I’m getting ahead of myself . . .
We’re at Fart & Smile grocery, remember?
I choose Amy’s Organic, Light-in-Sodium, Lentil Vegetable Soup.
(Turns out it’s okay. Not something I wake up in the middle of the night wishing I had in the cupboard . . . .)
I stand beside the checkout conveyor belt watching the cashier ring up my groceries. When she’s almost done, she asks cheerily, “Would you like to buy a bag for ten cents?”
Huh?
That wakes me from my stupor at which point I notice the sign tacked to the customer side of the register.
I don’t recall the exact wording.
It goes something like “Due to shoppers using so many free plastic bags with no concern whatsoever for the effect on the environment, a law has been passed forbidding the distribution of such bags by stores like the one you’re standing in right now. Your irresponsible behavior, your complete disregard for the health of our planet, brought this on, so don’t even THINK about complaining. Just buy the bigger, thicker plastic bags we have provided for your bagging convenience. By the way, from now on you will do your own bagging, too.”
Oh.
Like a good, little sheep, I reply to the cashier, “I’ll buy one bag.”
Errgh! Now I have to remember to bring the bag into the store every time or I’ll have to buy bags over and over again. This is so . . . so . . . I don’t know . . . so CALIFORNIA!
I know what you’re thinking:
For heaven’s sake, RVSue, it’s only ten cents. Stop being a grump and get with the program! We’re trying to save the planet here!
Oh, right. Well, I liked those thin plastic bags. I’ve used them in many ways, including as kitchen garbage bags. Now I’ll have to BUY garbage bags, which are made thicker and come in a box. Sorry, planet . . . .
I cram all my groceries into the one bag and leave.
Reggie smiles happily through the PTV window as I roll the cart toward him. I open the door and we share a face snuggle.
“Hello, sweetie pie. You’re such a good boy. Guess what? You’ve been so good, I’m going to take you to Carl’s, Jr. for a burger!”
While lifting the bag into the PTV, the can of lentil soup jumps out.
It escapes under the humongous, black, diesel pick-up parked next to us. Oh, great. I walk around to the other side of the truck to see if it rolled out the other side. Of course not. I open up the back of the PTV and pull out a rake.
I snag the runaway can of lentil soup and we take off for Carl’s Jr.
I order a Santa Fe Chicken Burger for me and a plain beef patty for the Reggie Man. We eat our lunch in our usual Fast-Food-Eating-Place — parked alongside the road at the edge of town, where fields of green are spread out before us. I push the seat-backer-upper button and open up the paper bag.
Reggie makes squeaky sounds. Translation: “Hurry it up, RVSue!”
I break off a little piece of burger.
Reggie gobbles it up. I alternate his bites with my bites. The chicken burger, with that green chili pepper on top, is delicious!
“Ya know, Reg?” I begin, my mouth full of burger. (It’s okay to do that when you eat with your best friend who is a dog.) “I was wanting this burger way back when we were in Colorado.”
Chew. Chew. Swallow.
“A plastic bag law. Big deal. I need to keep my priorities straight, Reg. I certainly wasn’t craving plastic bags back in Colorado.”
Faster than the speed of light another piece of burger disappears.
Having this lunch with you was what I was dreaming of.
rvsue
NOTE: To be perfectly clear, the words to the sign at the cash register are my own. The real sign was written plainly and politely. I don’t want this post to cast a negative light onto the Smart & Final store which I rate highly and in which I enjoy shopping. — Sue
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Home sweet home at Midland LTVA, Blythe, California
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