Vanilla or chocolate? Wings, breasts, or thighs?
Here at the Metro, decisions peck at Carol like brightly-packaged birds. It was a difficult enough morning working up the courage to decide: YES - today I will grocery shop!
Organic? Is other kale NON-organic? What does that mean? Bagels with gluten? Free from gluten?
The freedom of sliding glass doors feels impossibly distant as Carol stumbles through a maze of aisles, her mind paralyzed with questions and newly found needs, enticed by colourful discounts and deals, all promising more.
What differentiates jumbo from super-jumbo shrimp?
Carol once tried shopping online but gave up after days of removing items from her cart, suspecting prices had been better yesterday.
Is it cheaper to get twelve rolls or twenty-four? Apple cinnamon or cinnamon apple?
Exhausted in the checkout line, Carol grips her cart with desperate anticipation as she approaches the mop-haired cashier. How much would she like to donate to charity today? The possibilities are infinite; selection impossible.
Carol moans, attracting strange glances. But if she can only survive this moment and stumble out to the parking lot, Google Maps will mercifully take the wheel, guiding her back onto the rails of her life.
Chris Clemens teaches and writes in Toronto, where he has defeated 8.5 raccoons (with help from his wonderful family). Nominated for Best Small Fictions and Best of the Net, his stories and poems appear in Best Microfiction 2026, The Literary Review of Canada, Baffling Magazine, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, and elsewhere. Find more at linktr.ee/clemenstation.