Meeting Miss Wisconsin at the Grocery Store
©2006 Gail Grenier Sweet
Empty grocery storebored checkout workers
and there
at Checkout Number One
is Miss Wisconsin,
tall and slender,
in full makeup,
fluffy hairdo,
working her summer job.
She competed years ago
in Junior Miss
with my daughter
(She won,
daughter didn’t).
I sidle in with full grocery cart,
greet her with smile and “Hi,”
…can’t get eye contact.
She whips my products along the scanner
as if there were 10 old ladies behind me,
ramming their grocery cart wheels into my ankles.
I admire her efficiency
but
foolishly I keep
making small talk,
trying to crack her smile…
No use.
After I pay my bill,
Miss Wisconsin walks to the store office,
nose up.
As I leave,
I say “Bye” to
the middle aged lady
working the express counter --
her hair is frizzy
and she’s chubby
but her face breaks into a beam
and I tell her
“You have a prettier smile
than Miss Wisconsin.”
She says “Thanks.”
I think about my daughter,
the pageant loser,
who works frantic late night hours
in restaurant and bar,
always trying
to make patrons’ faces
break like a beam.
Maybe Miss Wisconsin was
just having a bad day
but
still
I
wonder
about
the price of a smile.
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