Practicing the art of patience
by Robert Charles Payne - posted Thursday, December 13th, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

I swore under oath last week that I would enjoy shopping this Christmas. I would not allow anything to disturb me, especially having to wait in line for a long time.

Wednesday, Nov. 30, was my first day of shopping. I was in Target. I had purchased four items. As I was turning my buggy headed for the check out lanes, I saw that all the lanes were full except one; and that was the lane where the sign said 10 items or less. I smiled inwardly because I had only four items so I floored my imaginary accelerator and headed for the finish line.

I made it. There was only one buggy ahead of me. I could not see any items in her buggy, but she must have bought something because I heard the check out lady say, "That will be $11.97." I saw the elderly lady take out her billfold very slowly. She slowly took out a wad of bills and started counting them one by one. "One, two, three, four, five," and so on.
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Robert Charles Payne is an inspirational writer who lives in West Monroe. He can be contacted by e-mailing robertcharlespayne@yahoo.com.