Food Lion

I was leaving church when one of the other members stopped in to tell us there had been a shooting at the local Food Lion in town. We were told the shooter was still at large. What must of looked typical of small town residents the men quickly called their families to share the news and instruct them to lock the doors. I followed suit as well. On the way home I drove past a house with several cop cars surrounding it and no flashing lights. I found out later the gun man was suspected to have been holding up in the house which apparently wasn't the case.

As I got home my wife and I talked about it some more and even called neighbors to see if they knew of anything. We watched a news clip and when a local cashier came on to tell his side of the event we in unison said "I know him". I guess that was the shock of it all, in what most would consider cliche that same cashier's mother was later filmed crying and could only muster the strength to say "This type of thing just doesn't happen", she stopped short of "here". I don't know if she was realizing it does and did happen here or just couldn't finish the sentence. I can't speak for my wife but I do know I was a little uneasy as we lay in the living room watching TV. This sort of thing had only happen to me once before as a middle school child. I had came home after school to hear on the news a man with a knife had been spotted running through a neighborhood behind mine. It's a scary feeling and in some ways a bit silly I guess, to know a senseless act has just occurred in your home town and the perpetrator is still at large. The probability of that said monster breaking into your home and yet you still feel vulnerable and in some ways violated. All the same I passed out on my couch for a night of sleep.

Today I had to stop in and pick up some food for the dogs and pumpkin for the puppy, she's not feeling well. We only have two grocery stores in town and as I am partial to Food Lion. I've never stepped foot in the other, to me it's too foreign now to switch. I pulled in the parking lot not sure of how I would act. My wife had said it looked busy when she passed and so "was safe". Why did that statement seem so ridicules and yet appropriate now? As I stepped out of my car I wondered if my dress shirt and pants would make me look like a reporter. I had never worried about that before. As I walked up to the front door I just felt out of place. This store was no different physically then it was two days ago for the same pumpkin run. Now though the lights seemed brighter and oddly there seemed to be more staff. As I walked the isles there were men, barely old enough to be called that stocking shelves together, joking and laughing. I crossed to another isle and caught glimpse of a group of cashiers standing with the front end manager and one of the shift or store managers, they too were laughing. Had three people not been shot here the day before? Should I be happy these people seemingly were able to cope with this new reality. Was this not as momentous as it seemed? I had forgotten a cart or hand basket and so you can imagine my walk up to the register with four cans of chicken, 3 cans of pumpkin and a 30lb bag of dog food made me look pretty comical. I didn't recognize the girl at the register, I'm guessing she was new. She made a comment about dog's eating more then us and I remarked something about how the bag wouldn't make it through a week. I had wrestled with whether to ask what had happened, I could see a boy telling the story at another register. At least he was animated about whatever he was talking about as if telling a tale of knights and dragons. I presented my MVP card so I wouldn't miss out on my "dealz" as the cashier reminded me and I paid for my loads of dog food.

As I gathered up my food now thankfully in a bag and tossed the 30lbs over my shoulder I turned around to walk out and that's when I caught glimpse of her. A security guard. In that instant I caught her eye and she shot back a cocked smile to be polite but that almost seemed to say "I'm not sure why I'm here either". She was a late 20's African American female with what looked like a freshly pressed or brand new security guard uniform. She looked as awkward as I would at her family reunion. I kept walking, almost faster as if the presence of the security guard had changed the atmosphere and I wanted to get out faster. As I loaded up the car and got in I thought "Did all of this really happen?"

The answer is "yes" it did, in an instant a small town was rocked by what was essentially a horrible domestic dispute and the details didn't help the case. Two African American males who worked together and were "partners" as the news seemed to make a point to continually reference. As if there wasn't enough gossip around the incident. Wendell has roughly the population of 7 thousand people and this type of thing does change a town this small. As patrons of the store we did wonder if it could of been us, for God's sake there's only two grocery stores actually in town. I will probably forget about the shooting after awhile and continue on with living here the same as I always have but for now I have to say like so many grieving witnesses and shocked residents before me despite knowing it's not true. "These things just don't happen here".