Saturday spottings (you shake my nerve)
Things seemed calculated today to rattle my brain in several unexpected ways, as distinguished from the expected brain-rattling experiences, such as driving down 23rd west of May, which also rattles one’s suspension parts.
At the supermarket, not only did I flub an item selection — Hunt’s really needs larger type on their tomato-sauce labels — but for the first time in over a year, I wound up writing a check instead of swiping the usual plastic. This sent up a storm flag at the store, especially when I gave off a dafter-than-usual expression when they handed the check back to me. Electronic processing, they’ve already got their money, they don’t need this, they explained. This modern world, I thought, and reminded myself to carry the damned debit card next time.
I was parked next to a newish Nissan Murano, and inasmuch as it was empty and it was after all a Nissan, I glanced into the interior, which was a bit fussy but still sort of neat. As I loaded up the trunk, the Murano started backing up, and lip readers in the vicinity of my face were treated to a very obvious WTF. Either I’m even less observant than I think, which is going some, or the Invisible Woman decided it might be a good idea to rematerialize before she pulled out of the lot.
South of 36th and May is an array of buy-here-pay-here used-car lots, and one of them was offering something different: a layaway plan. This seems contrary to the usual industry practice — get it now and pay a ton of money at high interest rates for as long as possible — but I suppose this could work if you’re not in a hurry. (Or maybe it’s in layaway for just long enough for you to come up with a down payment. You can’t ever tell about these things.)
And it is a measure of the way this winter has gone that this afternoon, with a high temperature still slightly below seasonal norms, seemed abnormally warm.
