I Will Never Learn

It happened again. I spoke to a stranger at the store. When am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut? I shared a ten second polite exchange with a slovenly stranger in the electronics department, and he followed me through the next three isles telling me about his personal life. This is what I learned: He is single dad who home schools because there are no decent public school teachers. His job is internet related and he works from home. He was purchasing a VCR deck and a third TV because on Wednesday night there are three different shows on three different channels at the same time and he needs to be able to record the two he's not watching. He watches his recorded programs during the day while he's working and his three kids are doing their lessons. In a nutshell (nut being the operative word): neither his business, his children, nor the TV rate his undivided attention, but I do. Sigh.

This week's excerpt from: The Grownups Wanted Us Dead: The Library I wanted to go to the library. That didn't seem like too much to ask, but [sic] in an unusual stroke of bad luck, Gram didn't give in to my whining. She ordered me to go outside and find something to do. Walking to the library is something to do, right? I grabbed my books and my little plastic library card and away I went.

I have also posted a new poem on: Bits of Me in Poetry