Close Encounters

Close Encounters

At the news store today: While waiting in line to pay for my paper, I noticed that the white-haired woman in front of me, who was perhaps in her 80s, had a black eye, nearly swollen shut. She had a toddler with her--her grandson, I suppose--who was fiddling with the candy bars on the shelves under the cash register. He dumped a whole box of them onto the floor. The woman looked down and said, "Oh, don't do that. Don't make me bend over. My eye might fall out!" This produced much giggling from the cashier and the other customers standing nearby. The little boy, however, looked like he was about to cry. I wanted to ask the woman if she'd been in a fight, but I thought better of it.