Gemotions

The grocery store checkout line snaked through the aisles, an endless procession of carts and slow-moving shoppers. Maria felt a surge of pure, raw fury. She tapped her foot, her head throbbing. It was taking forever. She wished she had never come to this wretched place.

The cashier, a teenager with a vacant expression, moved with glacial slowness, scanning items with agonizing deliberation. The woman ahead of her was fumbling with coupons. Maria wanted to scream.

She saw a woman at the next checkout counter, and the woman was furiously tapping her credit card on the scanner and glaring at the teenage cashier. The woman looked at Maria.

The woman shook her head and mouthed, "Ugh."

Maria nodded emphatically. She was not alone.