Adventures in Grocery Shopping

"Simon, stop that," said the woman.

I could see Simon, a child of approximately four in a too-small t-shirt, leaning halfway outside of the child seat in the shopping cart. He was reaching with his tiny fingers to a display of bananas while his mother was picking through the apples.

I was done with my shopping, but I couldn't help but stick around. It looked like an accident waiting to happen. I followed the pair as they moved through the other aisles.

"Simon!" He was reaching for some packages of beef. I thought he was going to fall into the freezer.

"Simon. Please behave."

I followed them again as they walked down the chips and soda aisle and I knew something was going to happen. It was inevitable. The woman pushed the cart, inexplicably oblivious to her child's actions, especially with his incorrigible behavior. I saw his grubby little hands reach for a bottle of Coke. The cart was drifting too close to the sides of the aisle, making the sodas within his reach.

"Si--"

I saw the bottle fall and heard the sloshing sound as it emptied itself.

"Clean up. Aisle 5!" said the voice over the loudspeaker.