daddy ☞ n.m.

o n e

julie rose

i walk around the grocery store, my shopping cart becoming heavier and heavier to push after a new item has been put into it.

after i put an item in my cart, i check it off the list.

i check 'cereal' off the list and begin my departure from the cereal aisle.

as i exit the aisle, someone rushing to come into the cereal aisle crashes their shopping cart into mine.

i frustratedly look up to see a young male, with two small children in his shopping cart.

"i'm so sorry, i didn't see you there. let me help you out with those." he says, referring to everything from my purse that were now scattered across the floor.

"it's alright. i can clean up on my own." i say with a faint smile.

"no. no, i insist. it's the least i can do. i got so caught up with the kids that i completely zoned out." he says before squatting down and gathering the lipstick, mascara, and tweezers that had fallen out of the makeup bag in my purse.

i reach for the makeup bag on the floor and he proceeds to place the three cosmetics back in their rightful place.

he hands me my pen, hand mirror, and two of my tampons.

i blush a deep red before quickly grabbing them and stuffing them into my purse.

after everything has been cleared up from the floor and after millions of apologies, we said our goodbyes and carried on with our grocery shopping.

as i've finished placing all my items on the conveyor belt in the checkout lane, i hear a loud fuss coming from a nearby aisle.

now curious, i look over to see the clumsy, apologetic male and his two kids.

the daughter and son are throwing a tantrum and the young dad is trying to calm them down.

i pay for my groceries, as the situation continues to go on, and place the bags in my shopping cart.

thanking the cashier, i push my cart back toward the cereal aisle.

by the time i get there, the children are screaming their heads off and their dad is sitting on the floor with his head in hands.

i run over to him first and sit next to him.

"hey." i say softly.

startled, he pops his head up to find that i'm sitting next to him.

"hi?" he says, sounding more like a question.

"i was paying for my groceries and i couldn't help but notice your little situation. what exactly are they screaming about?" i ask in a comforting tone.

"my daughter wants lucky charms and my son wants cocoa pebbles. i told them i couldn't afford both and that they would have to pick between one or the other and they completely lost it. i can't get them to calm down." he says, almost at his breaking point.