Stopping by Walmart on a Snowy Evening

Photo by Caique Morais

I feel sad for us.

I forgot it was Black Friday until I pulled into the parking lot. I’m here for cheese cloth and cake tins, the ones with a latch on the side that lets you disconnect the bottom piece. My wife is making a lemon cake for her birthday tomorrow.

I always think I will find what I’m looking for right away. But I end up wandering the labyrinth of cheap colored plastic and endless glumpfzeuge wishing the minotaur would find me. Eventually I pause to ask a tired looking woman in her 50’s, “shift supervisor” written on the badge attached to her blue vest. One of her legs is in a medical boot, and I wince with every step she has to take to help me. Turns out, there’s cheese cloth in four different spots in the store. We take a package out of the craft aisle.

I find a set of cake tins for $11.89, and it isn’t even bent out of shape like its neighbors. I try to shake my dysphoria. We have more than we could ever want right at our fingertips; why is there …