3WW (Drift, Hanky, Thick): Tuesday's Senior Discount

Every Tuesday, they loaded themselves into their 1998 Toyota Corolla to go shopping at the local supermarket. Senior discount day. And they could use the myriad coupons Lucy had clipped for time immemorial.

They parked in the handicap spot and ambled into the store. Lucy retrieved a cart. Gordon waited.

'Gordon, give me your hanky. I want to wipe the cart.' Her husband had his handkerchief waiting in his hand.

They meandered into the produce section, which was thick with little old ladies and grumbling silver-haired men. And there, Lucy started eying a young couple by the potatoes. With the couple was a girl of no more than 4; the little girl was having a bit of a tantrum.

'Something's not right, Gordon,' she whispered to her husband.

'Huh?' he tried to ignore her.

'That couple over there,' she pointed so that her husband couldn't help but see what she was trying to say.

'It's nothing,' he said.

'Something's not right, Gordon,' she replied to her husband, 'I think I should say something.'

'It's nothing,' her husband spoke with obvious annoyance. 'Leave those people alone, for God's sakes.' He started walking away, mumbling to himself.

'Something's not right, Gordon.' She picked up speed to catch her husband. 'The little girl looks like she's upset. She almost looks scared.'

Ignoring his wife he asked, 'What else do we need, Lucy?' His wife diverted her attention to the shopping list just long enough to say that they needed prunes.

'It's for your constipation, Gordon.'

'Woman, you drive me to drink.'

'You haven't had a drink in 10 years, Gordon.'

'I know, but I need one now.'

They slowly worked their way around the store. Lucy kept spying the couple and the girl every chance she got.

Somewhere around the candy aisle, Lucy noticed that the little girl was crying again.

'Gordon!' She exclaimed loudly enough that the couple and the little girl looked up at her.

'What!' he yelled back.

Again, thinking she was whispering, 'I think we should say something.'

'About what?' he asked.

'About them,' she pointed again.

'Mind your own business, Ma.' He had grown accustomed to calling her Ma after having had 5 kids together.

She relented yet again and continued drifting through the store.

They made it to the checkout. The couple with the little girl entered behind them. The little girl was still crying. Screaming in fact. The man looked exasperated. The woman yanked the little girl's arm and said with gritted teeth, 'You better stop this right now or else you're gonna get a whoopin when we get home.'

This was the final straw for Lucy. After she and Gordon checked out, they walked towards the exit. Letting Gordon walk out the door, she veered towards the cop standing near the carriages.

'Sir,' she got his attention. Trying to muffle her voice, she said, 'Sir I think there's a problem over there.' She pointed at the checkout area from where she had just come.

'What's wrong, ma'am?'

'It's that couple with the little girl. I think they might have kidnapped her.'

The officer betrayed no emotion. 'Why do you think that?'

'Well, something isn't right. They're coloreds and that little girl's white. Anyone can see that.'

The cop, trying not to show his discomfort and agitation, said to her, 'Ma'am, that young gentleman is a fellow officer. And he and his wife adopted that young girl right after she was born.'

Lucy, with a rather puzzled look, harumphed and exited the store.