Living Like A Lion-The Year

Chapter 10-Close Call, Wal-Mart

10.Close Call, Wal-Mart

The next morning I was human again; so I started getting ready for dinner that night. I knew it was early, but I couldn't wait. I pulled out the nicest set of clothes I had, which was a pair of jeans and a blue shirt; then I went downstairs for some cereal.

Anna, Annie, and John came home at lunch time. “Come on James. Let's go out to eat,” he called from the door; so we all piled into the car.

“James, be careful of what you say and do while we are out,” commanded Anna as she looked back at me because she and John had sat in the front.

“Yes dear,” I promised as I looked back.

We were soon at the restaurant and we ordered our meals. We chatted as we waited, avoiding any topic about the zoo or animals; but soon our meals were there. We dug in happily, including little Annie. As we were finishing, one of my old friends from school came over and asked, “I'm Peter Matterson. Aren't you James Otter?” He pointed at me and I glanced at John and Anna, who gave me a nod.

“Yes, I am. It is nice to see you again, Peter,” I replied, being very careful of what I said. I could hear John and Anna sigh.

“Where you been? We missed you at school,” Peter replied because he had been sick the day of the field trip.

“At relatives,” I answered and John seemed to be growing worried, but I had it under-control.

“That's cool; so who are you friends?” Peter asked politely.

“This is Anna, my wife, and Annie, my daughter; and this is John, my brother-in-law,” I replied and everyone seemed relieved.

“Cool. Well, I got to go. Bye,” Peter said before he rushed off.

“Wow, that was close,” Anna sighed.

“Did I do okay?” I asked concerned and Anna rested her head on my shoulder.

“Yes James. You did very well, but we should leave,” John replied as he got up; then we headed to the car and he drove us to Wal-mart. “Anna, here is a few bucks for food and a toy for Annie. James, you come with me,” he commanded. Anna left for the food department, while we headed to the men's section. “James, you need a suit and three pairs of regular clothes.”

“Okay, what size?” I asked because I have never shopped for clothes before.

“I don't know, but you can try them on,” he replied before he headed off towards gardening.

I picked out a nice blue suit, plus jeans and striped shirts, The clothes were all very nice and fit exceptionally well. John returned and took me to the shoes. “Pick out one pair of sandals, one dress shoe, and one tennis shoe,” he ordered and we began looking. He helped me figure out how the shoe should fit and soon we were headed to the check-out. When we were done, we met Anna by the car.

John had me drive us home and I have to say that it was an interesting ride. I didn't do horrible, but I could use some work on my parking. We quickly hopped out of the car and rushed to put the stuff away; then we all had a nap.