The Steadfast Sunday Driver

The afternoon before Easter is not always the best time for a photo shoot in a Safeway grocery store. This Prime Time promises the aisles will be a-scurry with shoppers but I had little choice as the timing was right for the principal players in this short drama titled “The Steadfast Sunday Driver”. As a recent FACE victim, my Aunt was the intended main subject, but as you can see the child stole the show. And we got lucky…our shots occurred in between the swarms of shoppers making it seem not as busy as it was.

I chose a big name grocery chain as the backdrop for a couple of reasons. Safeway stores have played a big role in my family’s lives with 3 of my 4 siblings having worked there in their youth. My Aunt Gail, featured behind the grocery cart, also worked there although later in life to help makes ends meet. Grocery stores are an integral part of who we are as Americans, a place we depend upon in our daily lives. I don’t know the statistics but I wager we spend a huge amount of time each week rambling down aisles in search of sustenance.

What I find amusing about these stores are the changes made to encourage shoppers. Currently there are 4 types of carts to choose from and the most ungainly of all is the one that has an actual toy car attached to the front end. These contraptions are behemoths on wheels, lumbering along with squealing children steering as if they were “Lightening McQueen” on the final lap of the Piston Cup Championship! What hits my funny button is despite their desperate pantomimes the cart continues on its unwavering path.

My Grandson Ashton was more than up to the task and played his part to the hilt. At one point he was grasping the “carrot-on-steroids” we had chosen to leave out for the Easter Bunny. Just as I was about to click the shutter he ad-libbed by putting the carrot in his mouth. Like I mentioned before he stole the show time and again. Throughout history actors have feared this phenomenon which prompted WC Fields to retort “Children should neither be seen nor heard from -- ever again!”