Her response forced hisgrin.
Jacques:Just answer thequestion.
Rainey: Chocolate. Unless it’s something todrink.
Jacques: Tangy drinks. Chocolate sweets. Gotit.
Rainey: :)
He stuffedhis phone back in his pocket and pushed the cart full of junk food around the corner. Of course, it wasn’t all junk food. He’d snagged a small bunch of bananas and a bag of trail mix that was just nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, and there was the bottled water. But with the two cans of Pringles, the bag of Sun Chips, the KitKats, and his six-pack of Satsuma Fizz Swamp Pop, his shopping run wasn’t going to win any nutritionawards.
Now he just had to find the Capri Sun. It hadn’t been on the same aisle as his soda or with the water, so he’d been cruising up and down the aisles until the candy caught his eye. But now he was in the canned foods, and the two-hour mark was steadilyapproaching.
At the end of the aisle, an Albertsons’ employee was stocking a flat of sweet corn, so he approachedher.
“‘Scuse me, ma’am. Could you tell me where to find the CapriSun?”
The woman straightened up, and while she didn’t face him, her shoulders turned in his direction, her head angling down to theleft.
“Aisle seven. Third shelf,” she said, speaking to the direction of hisknees.
Jacques realized at once that she was autistic or challenged, so he stepped back to give her enoughspace.
“Thank you…” He found the nametag on her uniform. “Thank you,Lila.”
She nodded, still not meeting his eye. As he moved away, she spokeagain.
“Zero cases of Capri Sun TropicalPunch.”
Jacques turned back. “What?” he asked, his spinetingling.
“Zero cases of Capri Sun Tropical Punch. Four cases of Capri Sun Berry 100%Juice.”
“Oh.” He swallowed, trying to process the moment. “Thanks.”
He’d just turned away a second time when he heard her again. “PEZ Dave (Despicable Me) Dispensers are onnine.”
Jacques was about to ignore her and head for aisle seven, but he found himself turning back instead. “Excuseme?”
Her body faced him now, but she still averted her eyes and spoke with her face tilted down and away. “PEZ Dave (Despicable Me) Dispensers are on nine. On aisle nine for nine-year-oldboys.”
The hairs on the back of Jacques’s neck lifted off his skin and stood arrow-straight.
“Nine-year-old boys like Despicable Me PEZ dispensers?” He heard himself ask the question, but he couldn’t quite believe hehad.
Lila the stocker didn’t respond, but the twitch in her shoulders could have been interpreted as anod.
“Should I get some of those?” he asked, wondering now just how far this wouldgo.
Again, thetwitch.
Holyshit.
“Do I need anything else?” he asked, feeling like he’d slipped down a rabbit hole somewhere between candy and cannedgoods.
She twitched again. “First-aid kits are onthree.”
He’d need a first-aidkit?
