Incident in Aisle Seven
"You know Pop, maybe you should do the grocery shopping for once," Stu said.
"Oh yeah? Maybe I will! Come on Sprout!" Lou snatched Tommy up.
"Alright, so you get the groceries for the week and we'll reimburse you," Didi said. "If you go over the total-" she pointed to an amount at the bottom of the list, "you'll have to pay that on your own."
"And if I come under while getting' everything I get to keep the cash?"
"Half," Stu argued.
"Deal!" Lou said with a grin.
~MC~MC~MC~
An hour later Lou looked over his cart. "Now then… that's everything on the list-"
"Reptar!" Tommy cried out but his grandpa didn't understand what he was trying to say, leaving the baby to reach out for the cereal display.
"Hmmm… can't figure this gizmo out…" He paused as he fiddled with the calculator. "Why Stu couldn't get a basic one…"
Tommy was growing more and more upset. His grandpa kept pulling him away from Reptar! He wanted the cereal! It looked SO good! He whimpered and wiggled before, when his grandpa was distracted, grabbing the sausage links and whipping them about, tying them to another customer's cart who was headed right for the cereal! Tommy grinned and held on as the cart began to move-
"Oh my!" the other shopper declared, having INSTANTLY realized that her cart had become twice as heavy. She frowned, stopped pushing much to Tommy's despair, and followed the links back to Lou. "Sir? I am so sorry but your sausage links have become tangled up in my cart!"
"Now how did that happen?" Lou said, scratching his head. "Well, guess we'll need to get another set. No use buying these dirty ones." With that he moved to push the cart away from the cereal display.
Tommy couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted Reptar! But no one took him to Reptar and he couldn't go to Reptar… no one let him do anything anymore! He should be able to do anything he wanted! But he couldn't explore or have fun or get in trouble or… or…
Throwing back his head Tommy began to cry, startling Lou.
"Hey now, Scout, what's the matter?"
"Reptar! Reptar!" Tommy sobbed.
"Oh, poor dear," the other shopper said. "Poor little guy must be tuckered out."
"Suppose so. And I'm feeling the same thing. Come on Sprout… we'll ring up and head on home. Maybe we'll come back tomorrow if I saved enough for the cookies."
But it turned out that Didi's budget was exactly right and Lou, realizing just HOW MUCH his treats cost, decided that maybe he shouldn't eat 2 boxes a day. So he didn't go back, happy with what he got.
Tommy though cried the entire time. Even though a few days later Stu bought the Reptar Cereal when he saw Tommy dancing to the commercial Tommy was still upset. It felt like some mysterious force was out to ruin his fun…