Personal Narrative: My Grocery

I have lived in only one location my entire life: Edwardsville, Illinois. A peripheral suburb of St. Louis, it stands as the rare oasis of people in a desert of corn, pinned in its own personal bubble. Due to this blend of time and isolation, I developed a natural familiarity with my hometown. But, throughout my childhood, I longed to break free from the confines of the bubble and venture outward. However, this changed last summer, as I walked through Richards Brickyard, our family heirloom, that my great-grandfather, Benjamin Richards, founded over 120 years ago. I felt these childlike sentiments slip away. The bubble that had surrounded me for so long began to vanish, and the picture that it had been obscuring was slowly revealed.

My week was going great, Thanksgiving was only a few days away. I planned to go to the grocery store later this evening. I didn't think twice about going to the store at night since Trevor was locked away. I could finally let my hair down and enjoy myself. I was happy as a pig in cool mud. I had a chance to talk to Mark this morning while Shay went out and got us some breakfast. Now Johaly and I were on the way to do some furniture shopping. Most of the stores were having Black Friday sales earlier this year for some reason.

It was an average weeknight, my brothers and I goofing around, my mom sewing, and my dad was out getting groceries. All of a sudden my dog Rascal started spazzing on the ground and breathing really heavy. It was very confusing at first because he was fine and then he wasn’t. We put a blanket under him and relaxed with him. When my dad came home he said stuff in my private with my mom and they came back in and said it was time for bed. So we all went to bed hoping he was going to be okay.

One hundred dollars. As I grasped the flimsy 6” x 2” white check perforated with a pay stub, happiness pervaded my body. Glistening on the “pay to the order of” line, for the first time, was my name. The fruits of all my labor translated into a single piece of paper, all that was left to do was to figure out how to spend it.

Walking away from everything you once knew and starting over is never a picnic. Leaving Iraq, and moving to America has impacted my life more than anything. I was only 4 years old at that time, and the only English I spoke was “excuse me, water please.” My family and I did not know it then, but our lives were going to change; we would become “Americanized”. Learning English was one of the massive changes that occurred, the way I dressed (culture), and even the way I had power to go to school and educate myself.

I have never worked retail before this internship. Everything that I am going to learn is all new me. The department that I was assigned to work in is Cabinet and Appliances. The managers I am learning under is Joe and Heather.

Have you ever tried to avoid someone while in a store? Thousands of people go shopping everyday. On any given day, at least one person will be stalked at a store that they frequent. I will never forget the day that in Walmart when I tried to avoid a creepy lady who then took my picture, while I tried to get away to find my mom.

I slowly sit up and rest my back against the headboard of my old bed. Closing my eyes and taking everything in that has happen since I’ve woken up. Being in my old room, brings back a lot of memories of when I used to live here as a child. Moments with James, moments with my mum. I let a tear escape my eye, quickly wiping it away. I can’t let it get to me anymore. It was five years ago. A few more tears escape and I go to whip it away again when light bounces off the scars on my arm.

Now, this was back when the mall the fountains running in the middle of the mall and the Looney Toon store or Disney Store was across from it. I don’t really remember. Any who, my grandma stated that my cousin and I were to sit on the bench outside of the store she was in. While she was in there, my cousin and I were chatting and that’s when a stroke of pure genius hit me. As I was there pondering what I desired to do, I said, “Que, let’s play a game of truth or dare. She looked at me as if I was speaking another language. She responded by saying, “Niqua, we already got in trouble for messing with my mom’s belongings. My butt still has whelps from the belt, she used.” I just rolled my eyes and told her, “That’s because we didn’t plan on her arriving so early. She probably would’ve thought we ran away if she stayed away long enough.” She gave me a blank stare. She just took a deep breath and sighed. My poor beloved cousin didn’t know what she was getting herself into (Bless her heart.) Our little game went from little things as running to touch the fountain and back, to going up to random people, tapping them and sprinting off. After that we got tuckered out and rested by the

The bright white screen fills the room as I hold the remote up to the TV. I flick continuously through the channels, hoping something will take my fancy. I pause on a breaking news story. The voice of a woman fills the air as she explains. ‘A runaway escapee and murderer last seen heading towards the South end of Australia has disappeared. Anyone in the areas of’, I reach for the off button as the mumbles of voices drown out as the TV turns off. I put the remote down and shut my eyes. The dark patterns and swirls fill the darkness as I fill my mind with the endless possibilities from some of the deepest parts of my mind. I replay the series of my day over and over in my head. Replacing the mistakes in the day and presenting myself with what

As I walk of of the A+P Mart from quitting my job because Lingle was being rude to these three women. I heard a loud "CRASH!" I ran around the block to find the girls that Lingle was being rude to upside down in a large SUV.

When I came to Medium Rare, it smelled so good, the food was everywhere in the air. When my family, friends, and I took our seats we were ready to eat and have a good time. In front of me was this African Amerian lady, it was a birthday as well. And to the left of me facing in front of me was some homosexual men that dress nicely. As I continue to look around at these people I start to analyzed that most of the African American were put to back closer to the kitchen and the bathroom. The waitress was very nice, kind, and sweet. When the white women were leaving they were saying some flirt ashes word to him, and the group of table I was seating started to laugh. There were no bad scents in the place, the smell was coming from delicious food, and the noise level was at a high minimum, so basically it was moderate plus the music in the background.

I stare at the TV with incomplete fascination, my pencil tightly gripped in between my fingers.

“My car won’t move” I said turning and looking to Shane. As always, he thought I was just playing so he told me to stop playing around and go. I looked at him once again and said, “My car will not move, I am pushing on the gas but it will not move forward.” As I looked back at the cars behind me embarrassment automatically fell over my face as they laid on their horns. I put my car in park and turned my hazards on as Shane went and told the people they would have to go around. We called both of our parents but they were all at work and could not leave. We were stuck there. As we sat there still in panic one of our friends’ dad pulled up behind me. “That is Roy Plummer!” Shane yelled as he jumped out of my car running back to Roy. He told

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