Paper or Plastic? How can you pay?
Once upon a time, Cranial looked at grocery shopping as a kind of game. More than that, it was a right of passage of sorts. A proof of maturity and test of skill, whether or not he could stretch a handful of dollars to pay for enough food every week. If he passed the test well enough, a case of hard cider or lager might find its way onto the list.
As he looked down at the list in his hand, Cranial’s heart sank further than it had in almost a decade. He could forget about any hopes for alcohol, because he’d already had to forget about much of his food. Gone were the days when making a good Mediterranian pizza from scratch was a substitute for cheap pizza from the local college-run pizza shop. Now a cheap cheese pizza–skimpy on the cheese, please–was the treat-of-the-week on the dinner list. The rest of the week would contain a mix of boiled potatoes, various frozen vegetables, and half a chicken breast. A night of fried ravioli would start the weekend with a whimpering, little bang.
“It’s the economy,” Cranial told himself as he put the broccoli back in the freezer. Its price had gone up over the last week, somehow related to the price of deisel. He scratched broccoli from his miniscule shopping list and made a note to get an extra dented can of corn.
As the cart squeaked down the aisle, complete with a wobbling left, rear wheel, he swore under his breath at the world, muttering something about worthless college degrees and the cost of student loans.