By the Skin of His Neck

I made a quick stop at Wegmans to pick up a couple items. As I swung down the cereal aisle towards the milk coolers, I encountered a young man about 4 or 5 who was retrieving items for his Mother.

He had pulled down a box of instant oatmeal - maple flavored - from a shelf just a bit over his head with studied efficiency. He carefully tucked the box under his chin, and with head down, headed in the general direction of his Mom's cart (Mom was perusing the yogurt and cheese displays, not paying any particular attention).

I had stopped my cart in mid aisle to let him pass. I am pretty sure he saw my boots, but not much else. As he inched past me, barely shuffling one sneaker clad foot past the other, I could hear him chugging away like a train, his arms pumping as if in full motion.

It made me smile to see such industry and concentration, so I kept watching for a few minutes. Apparently he had permission to retrieve several items from the cereal aisle, but he never selected more than one thing at a time. A smart shopper would have loaded their arms with all the necessary things and made one trip. But a creative artist could never do such a thing.

Each item was ferried to the cart via some different imaginary mode of transportation. I recognized truck, boat, plane, and car. The last one puzzled me. He bent from the waist and stiffened his legs and sort of ambled very slowly, occasionally spitting with a "pa-tooey" sound in the general direction of the floor. What on earth?

As I stood studying him, he glanced up at me, grinned, and mouthed the word "Camel." Ahh! Yes, of course. I got it as soon as he said so. I nodded my head and giggled. He dumped the box in the cart, offered me a quick wave, and disappeared around the corner, his Mom zipping him away quickly towards the produce.

How fascinating. No wonder children laugh so much. No wonder I don't laugh enough. I wondered how his technique would work with the eggs I was lifting from the cooler.