Help?  Of course I’d like help. I’ve just stood in line for 45 minutes waiting for you.  I’ve just signed my name in blood for a cartload of food that will evaporate before I can recycle the plastic bags.  The heater in my car is dying.  My windows need washing because the sun is out.  I have a to-do list that, if wrapped around a cardboard spool, would out-size a roll of toilet paper.  It’s already noon, and I have four more stops before rushing home to make supper.  I don’t know if I’ll make it because every car in the city is on the road today, going 10 mph.  I need a complete set of mountain-climbing gear just to scale the load of laundry in front of my washing machine. It’ll take me 35 minutes to find my car in the parking lot, once I get out of this store.

…out to the car with your groceries?”  The clerk asks the usual question as I stuff the small plastic card back in my wallet.

“No, I can make it, thank you.”  I smile at her.  At least I can still push my own shopping cart.