I was on my way home when I noticed that I had forgotten the milk.. Funny thing, I thought. It was one of the main things that I set out to get. What distracted me was the wide array of fish and shellfish that they had on sale. I spent a good forty dollars on that. My seven year old son, Tyler loved sea food and I did my best to cook some for him whenever I could. That boy was my pride and joy.

I drove back to the Krogers, rushed in and grabbed a gallon of milk. Long lines had built at the check-out lanes, but a lady dressed in a pink pin-striped pant suit let me get in front of her.

"Thank you, ma'am," I said.
     
"You're welcome, Mr. Jaxon," she replied and stared straight ahead. I was taken aback. This lady knew me? I got a good look at her face. Although I could tell she was older than fifty, the woman appeared to be younger at first glance. She had a nice smooth pecan complexion with a mole on her left temple that her graying hair could not quite obscure. A wan smile seemed to seemed to hide a misery that only she knew. As I shuffled up the queue, she lightly touched my shoulder.

"Wondering how I know you?" she asked amusedly.

"Well, yeah." A little boy was on a kiddie rampage on aisle eight. He gleefully ran up and down the aisle grabbing bags of cookies and candy. Even though he saw me watching him, he continued with his assault.

"I'm Jean Masters," the lady said. She told me she and my mother used to play tennis and that she used to live in my neighborhood. She also told me that she recently retired from teaching high school biology after  thirty-five years. Nothing she said jogged my memory. She asked what I did for a living. I told her and gave her one of my business cards.

The pint-sized cyclone in aisle eight was now headed toward me. He latched onto my pants' leg with his pudgy hands and held on as if for dear life. I saw why. A tall woman zipped from the other end of the store, snatched the brat and slung him over her shoulder. She apologized to me and smacked the boy on the butt. The little urchin didn't cry but made funny faces at me. I looked down to see a good sized grease stain on my two day old Docker khaki pants and sighed.

The line dwindled down to Ms. Masters and me. I could've been long gone but she had a full cart and I offered to help her. She thanked me and we walked out to her car which was an apple-red Explorer. I noticed that it had magnetic advertising signs on both sides that read:
                               
                                            Special Crafts
                               Stuffed Animals, Artificial Flowers, etc
                                        Call (770) 555-6874                                        
                                           
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