Everyone’s coming from somewhere. Everyone’s going somewhere. Two cars ahead of me is a young mother driving her son to day care. The older professor late for a meeting drinking his third cup of coffee and wondering if life was even worth a damn. The truck driver wondering if his wife would still be home to welcome him after what he’d done. The family of four passing me, on the way to the hospital perhaps to say goodbye to Grandma one last time. The twenty five year old behind me wondering how he’s going pay for gas let alone his rent, “will Dad bail me out again?”.
It took me forever to pick out a pair of shoes I liked. The lady who rung me up, she had such sad eyes, I wonder why. Her name tag said Nicole and I noticed the keychain hanging around her neck had a picture of a little baby girl not much older then one year old…
…Nicole’s world lay ahead of her. She had studied so hard in high school and was a class valedictorian. She’ll never forget the look of pride on her grandmother’s face when she told her that out of the 287 kids in her class she would be the one to give the valedictorian speech. She was involved in so many activities at school that she never had a free moment. It felt good to be a role model. Then one night she becomes one with her boyfriend and creates something she wishes she could take back, but that would be defying the impossible. She could only imagine the look on her grandmother’s face when she didn’t show up to graduation. The principal replaced the valedictorian speech with the announcement that Nicole was in labor and hopes that everyone wishes the new mother well with her new baby. The baby was to be named Greta, in honor of Nicole’s grandmother. After the birth of baby Greta the boyfriend left for college and never returned. Nicole gave up the dream of college and sororities and succumbed to baby bottles and 3:00 am feedings. So here Nicole is, working at Payless and telling herself that everything will be alright, and...