Sheila Charles A COMPULSIVE SHOPPER
I decided to pop into the supermarket.
I only wanted cheese.
As I had half an hour to kill,
I filled my trolley up by degrees.
I almost forgot to get
The very item I’d gone in for.
(Usually my daughter shops for me
So I don’t often go. It’s a chore.)
Well, I got quite carried away.
I filled my trolley almost to the top.
Fruit, veggies, bread, cleaning things,
Paper hankies, I couldn’t stop!
What’s more I got two of
Nearly everything – just in case
I got snowed in. I could feed an army –
As if an army would land at my place!
Then I kept bumping into folk I know
And I got so embarrassed, yes,
When they looked at my trolley full of stuff,
So, I’d say to each one – have a guess!
“I only came in for a block of cheese.”
(How weak-willed am I?)
I wonder if they thought I was throwing a party
And I wasn’t inviting them, Now why?
Then I went one step further.
I spoke to folk I’d never met!
I’d look at their trolley full of food
And you can guess what I said, I bet.
I said, “Did you just come in
For a block of cheese, like ME?”
And some of them actually nodded
And smiled as if to agree!
So it became a conversation starter.
I could be on the verge of making a friend!
Or were they simply being polite,
Not wanting to offend?
Or were they secretly thinking –
This lady’s driving me round the bend.
OR there’s a chance this lady
Could very well overspend! AND THEY WOULD
BE RIGHT!
illustration by ume-nori
