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A box of fish sticks, a bag of potato chips.<br />
Two cans of CatSoBright cat food. There's a cartoon cat on the can<br />
below a white think-bubble-cloud that says, I deserve the best (because cats<br />
are people too).<br />
A twenty-four pack of Diet Riot.<br />
A tin of instant mochaccino.<br />
Four rolls of spearmint Life Suckers because here she is and there they<br />
are and who isn't a sucker for the impulse buy or for that matter a sucker for<br />
life? And besides, better Life Suckers than those trashy tabloids. She grabs<br />
another roll and then just one of those trashy tabloids. Vegan woman gives<br />
birth to 10-lb. cheese loaf.<br />
So a dozen of this, a box, a bag, two cans of that, a pack, a tin, another<br />
roll of fat.<br />
And finally a thing of Skinny shake mix with a very skinny woman on<br />
the carton pulling at her waistband and saying, I've got the skinny on Skinny!<br />
Shouldn't you?<br />
Fern's working the express lane today. She says, How's my sweetie?<br />
Not good at all, Darla says. Terrible.<br />
A man says from the back of the line, Hey, you've got more than ten<br />
items there.<br />
Fern bags her up and says, You come back at three-fifteen. I'll be off<br />
then. We can talk.<br />
Later the two women move along their marshmallow-soft path. Edwin's<br />
always telling me why don't I try losing weight?<br />
Fern shakes her head. Wow, and for him to talk.<br />
That's absolutely right, and in the next sentence he'll say, Tonight be<br />
ready.<br />
For what? Fern says.<br />
Sex.<br />
Oh God! How does that work?<br />
It's difficult, Fern. Darla stops in the middle of the path, puts a hand on<br />
her friend's forearm and tells her about the sweaty crumbs and sometimes<br />
wrappers hidden inside the folds of his fat.<br />
Oh my God! That's so awful! Is that true?<br />
Yep. And then you should see that damn stupid cat and him. The two<br />
of them all kissy and lovie like that. I could kill the cat. Really. I sometimes<br />
could. I have these images of just strangling it.<br />
Fern lets out a bit of a gasp, cradles her pregnant belly like a jumbo<br />
popcorn at the movies and begins to slowly back away from Darla until she's<br />
standing up against blackberry vines. Darla imagines suddenly just pushing<br />
her friend into the vines, scrape her all to hell. She's feeling cranky and mean<br />
S. Asher Sund 87
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