Untouchable

Chapter 2: Charity

Chapter Two: Charity

The grocery store was huge. There was a Starbucks in the grocery store.  Now I’d been to a super Wal-mart in my day, but this was even bigger.  Did you know that an aisle can be completely devoted to cereal, not shared with the oatmeal or random breakfast bars?  No, in Phoenix, they get their own aisle.  In Lakebay, they got a shelf.

I wandered quietly, and tried to contain my impish glee at the variety. Jack, my personal man servant, as he dubbed himself, pushed a cart behind me. I had grabbed all the mixings for my favorite recipes, hopefully enough meals to last a whole week. But somehow a box of donut holes, three tubes of sour cream and onion Pringles, and enough fruit snacks to feed a preschool ended up in the cart as well. If I was feeding Jack too I would be spending most of my life at the grocery store. Not that I minded. 

“Catydid, what do you need three blocks of cheese for?  Are you secretly a mouse?”

I dropped another item in the cart. “Homemade baked mac’n’cheese.” His eyes lit up. “Be nice if you want some.”

He instantly attempted to look innocent, making a halo over his head with his finger. I returned to my shopping, hearing a faint “squeak, squeak,” behind me. 

I whipped around giving him my best you-better-not-mess-with-me-mister-or-no-food-for-you glare. But I couldn’t hold it long, Jack looked shocked like he never expected me to have so much ire. I laughed. Don’t mess with Cate Oliver. Giant silencer.

Grabbing the last few things on my list, I ended up in the cake aisle.  Yes, a whole aisle devoted to cake. I was so going to buy all the best ingredients for chocolate cake from scratch, and eat it all myself. I’d been craving chocolate cake with homemade cream cheese chocolate icing for days.

While I debated the pros and cons of the using dark chocolate powder versus melting semi-sweet and dark chocolate discs, Jack’s phone rang.  His ring tone was “Baby” by Justin Beiber.

“Wow, Jack, I didn’t know you were a middle school girl.”  Double wow.

He rolled his eyes. “Hey, Ali. What’s up?”  I went back to my internal chocolate debate.

“Sure, yea… Yeah, I can help.  Do you mind if I bring a friend along?” He grinned at me. “It’s Cate.  Ya know Jake Oliver’s daughter.” Pointing at the chocolate discs, he asked me, “Do you mind if we stop by my house before we head back? I need to help my neighbor with some junk.”

I could hear a high pitch squeal on the line, which made Jack crack up.  I shrugged.  Sure, whatever. What else is there for me to do except follow Jack around? 

“Okay Alison, we’re gonna check out and then we’ll be over.”  Alison… hmm. I wonder if that’s his girlfriend.  Her squeal sounded exceptionally girly.

After fighting over who paid (I won) and seeing who could bag the groceries faster (he won), we loaded up the car. Jack placed all the cold stuff in a cooler he had in the back.  Who keeps coolers in their trunk?  Well, I guess that’s Phoenix for ya.

I didn’t realize how long we were shopping until we got in the car.  It was already four and I had been in Phoenix for three hours. 

It felt much longer. 

I rolled down the window to let the wind blow into my face.  The nausea from earlier had resurfaced and I had no desire to hurl on the side of the road.  Nausea had been my constant companion for the last few weeks.  I had begun to hate the inside of a bathroom, especially the porcelain throne that held my reflection much more than a mirror.