Number 90

I went to the grocery store to get a couple of pieces of fried chicken at their deli section. To keep order, they want you to pull a ticket with a number on it. On the wall behind the deli is a display that reads “Now Serving” and below is an electronic number that will change when the clerk pushes a button to advance it to the next number. As i walked up, there was a lady
in line ahead of me. An older lady with a cane and a cart came up behind me. I pulled the next number and gave it to the women with the cane. Then i pulled the next number, which was 92. I looked up at the electronic number and it was 89. There was a clerk with his back to the counter slicing ham on a slicer. I stood there for awhile watching the clerk slice ham and periodically I looked over at the woman ahead of me in line. She was watching the clerk as well and once in awhile she would look around and look at me with sort of a frustrated look. I can’t really describe what a frustrated look is but I’m pretty sure she had one. After a few times of her looking over at me, I asked if she was getting the sliced ham and she said no. She was waiting for service.
So I thought the clerk was slicing ham for number 89 and number 89 was out in the store shopping. All the while, I could hear talking and laughter coming from a door leading to behind the deli. I walked over to the door where the laughter was coming from and two young women were looking at one of their phones. One looked at me and I pointed to the counter and raised my hands as if I was saying “Whats up?” One of the women pointed out to the counter area and the other looked at me, sort of grinned and came out to the counter area. The woman ahead of me was still standing there and the older lady with the cane and a cart was looking in the display case as if she were trying to make up her mind on what to buy. The woman clerk walked over to the clerk slicing ham and said something to him. He stopped slicing, went to the sink,
and washed his hands. Meanwhile, the woman clerk looked up at the electronic number and called out “Number 89!” The women ahead of me said “That’s me” and the clerk that was slicing ham asked her “What do you want?” Number 89 told him she wanted “12 chicken nuggets”. The clerk that was slicing ham looked where they keep the chicken nuggets and said
“We are out, but I’ll cook some up”. Number 89 asked “How long will it take?” and the clerk who was slicing ham said “Oh, about 5 minutes or so”. Number 89 said "I'll come back." and took her cart and went to shop some more. Meanwhile, the woman clerk advanced the electronic number to 90 and called out “Number 90!”. The women clerk looked at me, I pointed to the older lady with the cane. The older woman with the cane looked at her ticket, said to the woman clerk “My number is 91” (which it was because I was #92 and if you remember, i pulled both the tickets, for me and the older lady with the cane). The woman clerk, realizing that number 90 was no longer there, advanced the electronic number to 91, looked at the older lady with the cane and called out “Number 91!”. During the time the woman clerk was sorting out the numbering snafu, a man with a loud speaking voice came up to the deli counter, talking. At first I thought he was possibly teaching a class because of his voice was deep and clear and he enunciated very well. After looking around, I realized he was by himself and had one of those phones that fit in your ear and, I’m guessing here, must have felt that the phone was far enough away from his mouth that he needed to talk loud so the phone microphone would pick up his voice. Number 91 got her order, turned, thanked me and walked away. The woman clerk walked over and advanced the electronic number to 92, turned and looked at me and called out “Number 92!” I showed her my ticket and the woman clerk asked me “What can I do for you?” I told her I wanted “A fried chicken breast, a fried chicken wing and a small container of the Mediterranean pasta salad.” Just then the man with a loud speaking voice said “No, that can’t be right!” The woman clerk looked at me and said “Excuse me?”. I pointed to the man with a loud speaking voice and said “That was him”. The woman clerk looked at the man with a loud speaking voice, who was looking at tamales under the counter, and said “Excuse me?” The man with a loud speaking voice then said “I don’t care if Shelly doesn’t want to, she’s going to be there!” The woman clerk looked at me, grinned and went over to the chicken. She sorted through 5 or six chicken breast and put the largest one in a bag. Then she started going through the fried chicken wings and started mumbling about the size of the wings. She said she’d give me two because they were small. She filled a small container with Mediterranean pasta salad, placed tags on the bags of fried chicken and the small container of Mediterranean pasta salad, handed them to me and wished me a good day. I wished her one as well. As I was leaving to do more shopping, the man with a loud speaking voice asked the woman clerk for a container of potato salad. The woman clerk walked over and advanced the electronic number to 93 and looked at the man with a loud speaking voice and said very loudly, “Number 93! The man with a loud speaking voice said “Hold on a minute.” I wasn’t sure who was supposed to hold on, the woman clerk or the person he was talking to. He reached in his pocket and took out what looked to be a small piece of paper. he looked at it, showed it to the woman clerk and said “My number is 90”. I went about my shopping, periodically hearing #90 in an isle over from me, carrying on his conversation. After about 15 minutes, I finished my shopping and went over to the self check out line. I asked a woman who was standing in front of the self check out “Are you in line?” The woman turned around and it was number 89!! She looked at me and said “No. I’m still waiting for my chicken nuggets.” and walked off toward the vegetable section. I paid for my groceries and went and sat in the dining area, near the exit, waiting for my wife. As I sat there, I heard number 90’s voice. He walked past me and as he walked through the exit doors, I heard him saying “Look Shelly, you and your brother are going and that’s that.” In another 10 minutes, my wife finished her shopping and found me in the dining area. We walked out to my car and as we were pulling out of the parking lot, I saw number 89 walking very quickly out of the store, pushing her cart and appeared to be yelling at her phone. I heard her say, in a very loud speaking voice, “I don’t know what the hell happened, but they were out of them!!” When I got home, I unpacked my groceries and found the Mediterranean pasta salad, the fried chicken breast, 3 fried chicken wings and 12 chicken nuggets. Go figure.

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