You see her in the supermarket every day. She wears size 14, stretch pants (that advertise plainly why she needs the stretch) and a matching print blouse. She wears them with tennis shoes

Harter, Mary

Digital Commons @ Butler University

MANUSCRIPTS 27AvatarMary HarterYou see her in the supermarket every day. She wears size 14,stretch pants (that advertise plainly why she needs the stretch) and amatching print blouse. She wears them with tennis shoes. A chiffonscarf scarcely covers the neat rows of pink curlers clamped down theback of her head and clustered at the sides. With one hand she steersa grocery cart; with the other she holds a shopping list, a heavy purse,and a toddler's hand, each of which must be released whenever sheneeds to examine a product or yank another child back into herentourage. She moves at a snail's pace down each aisle, her dartingeyes scanning every label with computer speed. Having inched her waywith tedious caution down an entire aisle, she will, upon reaching theend, suddenly whip her cart around a semicircle in four seconds flatand proceed down the next aisle as slowly as before. Her vocabularythroughout this process consists of only two words: "No!" and"hmmm," but she can intonate the latter with a dozen inflections whichrender it appropriate for each expression that sweeps across her face.As her children conduct a circus around her, her eyes register alternateagitation and stupor, with occasional flashes of panic. Her face ishaggard and harried, and she walks with a tired stoop that is sug-gestive of the first stages of collapse. To watch her plod wearily upand down the rows is to know that she has done this often enough tohave worn grooves in the aisles and tracks across her forehead.

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