A Little too Personal..

Peg Legs Chapter 5

We had just dropped off Rainy and we were on our way to the local Walmart...on Christmas Eve! Our family never thinks this part through, but that's a part of the tradition. The traffic was horrible but when we finally got there...we couldn't find a space to park and we had to park about a mile away. So we speed walked and it looked completely dorky but we didn't care we had a mission. When we finally got in and we felt more packed in than a packet of sardines, and to make matters even worse it felt like we had the whole store on our messily jotted down list.
"Spaghetti, onions, garlic, pepper, pineapple, cherries, whipped cream, potatoes, aluminum foil, marshmallows. What else..what am I forgetting?
"Marshmallows?" Dad asked
"Do you want to be the one who tells Isabella that we don't have pink mini marshmallows?" I asked sarcastically
"Marshmallows it is!"
"Oh yeah, we need HAM!!" I (basically) yelled. I loved ham, I was basically the human version of Ponyo. I grabbed the biggest, heaviest ham I could find and started slowly trudging my way over to the cart. My taste buds were having a pre-celebration in my mouth. The cart shook when I put the ham in it, like it was scared of the gigantic mound of meat I had just put into it.
We started to "excuse us, and pardon us, and sorry" our way to cash registers. It felt like being in a tsunami of people, almost slipping on some cranberry jam that was being neglected, people trying to run to get the candy canes they forgot to grab. No wonder America is one of the fattest countries on earth. Paying felt like a safe haven compared to the rest of the store. It was the only place where people couldn't shove us out of their way. Soon we were back in the middle of the tsunami and slowly making our way to the exit which looked like a stampede of wildebeests. The scene from The Lion King crossed my mind. Dad and I took a deep breath and started into the eye of the hurricane.
We were almost out when I saw a little kid. She couldn't have been older than Isabella, she had her short, golden brown hair up into two adorable little pigtails. Her sequined candy cane skirt caught the dull winter sunlight. The only problem was that she looked like she had just tasted my dad's specialty super sour lemonade. Once we got closer I realized that she was crying for her "mommy". Aw, no not today! Not today, of all days. My heartstrings pulled my legs closer and closer to pigtails and farther and farther away from Dad. I had just lost my grip and could almost touch the sequins when dad started calling for me. He stopped in the middle of the stampede. Her little fingers were covered in thick hot pink mittens.

"Come on sweetheart we'll find your mommy." I said as I grabbed her tiny fingers. I stood on my tiptoes and tried to search for Dad's head, I strained my ears to hear his crutches scratching at the floor. I didn't have any idea where I was. Now we were both hopelessly lost, today wasn't the day to be lost!
"Oh, umm. Let me just.." I said as I feel a rough hand grab my shoulder.
"What do ya think your doing missy!?" says a security guard that seemed to have come out of no where. AWESOME! Another problem!
"Really?! You notice me stopping your precious store traffic, but you don't notice or care bout a little girl losing her mom! On Christmas Eve!" I can feel my mixture of anger, nerves, and concern for the girl swelling up in the back of my throat.
"I'm sorry missy but I can't just let you talk to me like-"
"Also, stop calling me missy! What is this the 90s?" I interrupted him. Ooh this isn't good. Stupid! Stupid! Another rough hand grabbed me from behind.
"I am so sorry sir! We will...umm just be going now and- who's your new friend Angelica?" Angelica?! Oh, now I've done it. Have I ever even heard him say it? Well, I mean maybe once a while ago but that couldn't-
Ugh of course a person like this would be holding us all up. No one else ever does. I don't know why people like this call attention to them selves they already have enough. Although I have to say I'm surprised it's a peg leg like this guy. Wait, what?
"Hey authority! I thought you were supposed to protect not insult! Especially not someone with a disability! And also-"
"What...the...heck Angelica?! We'll just be going now" he said as he started to push Pigtails and I along when he stopped midway turned around and stared at me as if I had actually turned into Ponyo.
"Angelica, who's the kid?"