Toothpicks Are Where You Don’t Find Them

I had one item on my list when I entered a local grocery store: toothpicks.  When I exited the store, I had in my bags: wine, bananas, provolone cheese, California rolls, and a bag of potato chips.

No toothpicks.

On my first trip through the store, I purposely avoided the potato chip aisle.  “Not going to give in to the chips,” I told myself as I whisked past them.  “I am on a mission for toothpicks.”

Making my way though the store, I asked two employees where I might find toothpicks.  Each told me a different aisle.  By the time I reached the far end of the grocery, I had been down nearly every aisle and still failed to locate toothpicks.

“I have tried hard here,” I thought, “I deserve my potato chips.”

By the time I worked my way back to the checkout lanes, I was almost to the point where I was ineligible for the express checkout.  Toothpicks, had I found them, might have pushed me to a different line.

— Mitchell Hegman