The Maddening Crowd

Inspirational song: Der Kommissar (Falco)

I couldn't stay holed up in the park all week. I had to get out and face traffic. I certainly didn't want to, but I ran out of dog food completely last night, and couldn't convince myself to drive to the pet superstore late at night. I couldn't convince myself to do it early this morning, either. The dogs were starting to get dancy, and my professional eater was starting to make the Wookiee sound when she decided I was ignoring her. I tried suggesting that it would be a great time to be fashionably thin like a greyhound. It would just take a few days of fasting, only until the holiday shopping season was over. They didn't go for it. They only barely stood still when I made them pose with my kill when I returned from the hunt. And it was very nearly a violent experience. Traffic to the shopping center where the Petsmart operates was backed up for about a mile and a half, and when I turned on my signal to get out of the lane leading to the interstate, I had to wait for ten cars to refuse to let me into the left lane. Finally, people were honking and I was cursing out the woman in the silver car who blocked me in. I ranted for at least three stoplights at her taillights. All I could think of was the time my librarian boss and I went to pick up a last few gifts at a discount store, and she let out a string of F bombs at the pedestrians clogging the parking lot that put Dennis Hopper's Blue Velvet performance to shame. The only thing I could think of to interject into the stunned silence was "fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la."

I put in another shift at the gift wrap table today, and I have plans to do it again tomorrow. My friend who worked shifts with me last week, told me today that her holiday has taken a negative turn. Someone stole the presents her parents and in-laws sent off of the front porch. They took their dog for a walk in the area where a woman claimed she found a check from the in-laws, and found remains of several of their presents scattered in a ball field and wrapping shreds with her and her husband's names. I feel bad for her, especially since the police seem particularly uninterested in investigating, even with the discovery of the debris. It would be enough to make me feel uneasy about the packages I mailed today, if I weren't sending to PO boxes. I have been watching my porch closely, for the few things I know are coming here. So far, only one is still unaccounted for.

Not only did I brave traffic for dog food, and overcome a serious aversion to the post office (Don't ask why, I don't know. I just HATE that place.), but I even put up with the crowds at the grocery store. I must have been possessed to be out in the worst of it, all day long. I stocked up enough that I shouldn't have to go anywhere except to parties for the rest of the week. At least not as a customer. I promised to spend one last, hard shift as a gift wrapper, at a busy store on Christmas eve. I must be mad.