They crossed the aisle towards the main area which was double wide. A bottle of energy drink had been dropped by a mindless kid and the lip hd popped off. A puddle of blue liquid covered the stretch of the aisle. Happy looked at Mummi’s eyes which had a look of determination. When Happy looked back he saw a checklist instead:
- This was a large, treacherous spill
- There were no cautionary sign to alert patrons
- There we no witnesses besides the security cameras
“Don’t look at it, don’t look at it,” Mummi said.
Happy diverted his gaze to the ceiling and spoke.
“Mummi, don’t do this now. I want to go home,” Happy said.
“Walk ahead,” Mummi said as she starting pushing the cart
“Grab the cart when I drop,” Mummi said.
Happy started walking they were on a movie set, overthinking every motion. Every bone in his foot came into awareness as he lifted his heel, arch and toes before replanting them in a similar manner.
The moment he felt his heel stick to the ground as he tried to lift it, Mummi flopping into action. She leet her legs go weak and bend in a manner that Happy knew would cause her knee bones to grind due to the lack of cartilage. She let out a genuine moan of agony as she sank further. He hands hung onto the shopping cart, but it started to roll forward. Happy sprang to steady the shopping cart, but not to interfere with her grip. She gripped tight until her ass plopped against the wet ground at which point she let go, leaving Happy to keep it from rolling away on the excess motion.
She made sure that her palms landed on the dry part of the floor to avoid getting too messy. She wailed again, this time Happy could detect the performative notes more clearly. He looked around to see if anyone had stopped and they hadn’t. This secured that the first witness would see only the context she desired.
Happy leaned down out of both feigned and genuine concern.
“Are you OK?” Happy said.
“Is anyone here?” Mummi said.
“Not yet,” Happy said.
“Do run and get someone,” Mummi said.
“Mummi… no…” Happy pleaded.
He was saved when a white mom and her toddler turned the corner. She had a pink toy case in her cart that no doubt held a toy 10% of the size of it. The daughter pointed and squeaked, still pre-verbal. The mom reactively reached to re-stow her daughter’s arm to her side and shushed her. She slowed her own cart to a crawl and starting turning around well ahead of the jam.
She looked behind her and Happy saw a worker between her legs on the far side of the floor. She called him over to the situation before extricating herself
When the worker approached, he was white, heavy-set, in foundry boots, cargo shorts and a uniform shift with sweat stains in the pits. His head was covered with a baseball cap with a folded brim and fraying fabric on the edges from long use. His nametag read Harold.
“Hiya, how’s it going here?” Harold said.
“Tell him I need an ambulance,” Mummi said.
“She fell on the beverage spilled here and needs help getting up,” Happy said.
Mummi turned her neck to lock eyes with the man.
“Am-bool-ance,” she said.
Harold unclipped a walkie-talkie from his cargo shorts. They were beltless and held up by his blubber.
“Alright we can get that done,” Harold said, before hushing some storespeak into the walkie-talkie.
“Tell him there’s no sign we need to file a report with a formal complaint,” Mummi said.
Happy looked at her nodding, smilling and rubbing her shoulder with a display of care while his stomach turned.
“Hey sir, do you have a form you fill out for these things? Sounds like my mom wants to make it official,” Happy said.
“Oh, OK I’ll call the manager bud, no need to worry. We take this seriously,” Harold said, his tone sounding more formal.
A manager appears very quickly afterwards with a few forms to fill out in fact. He asked to see ID to prove who she was and gave them a copy at Mummi’s insistance.
The ambulance showed up. It was a petite woman and a more substantial man. They looked at the challenge of lifting 300-lb Mummi with dread.
“Can you help us?” the petite paramedic asked Happy.
Happy agreed.
“I’ll help too,” Harold said, before the manager subtly signalled to hang back.
They all tested Mummi’s sturdiness before lifting her into the stretcher. She winced in pain, no idea if it was real or performative. This was always the case for Happy and was beginning to understand why it caused a sympathy problem for him towards her.1
As the paramedics were unlocking the stretcher wheels to roll her away, Harold came forward once again, unchained from his boss’s forcefield to place a hand on Happy’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry this happened and that you had to translate everything, it must be hard,” Harold said.
Happy looked into Harold’s kindness was gratitude.
“Yeah, thanks so much,” Happy said.
“You should really teach her to speak English in this country, Things would get easier,” Harold said.
Happy followed the paramedics out.
Footnotes
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