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Pop to the Shops

by Samantha Entwistle

Irene stood in the checkout by aisle three and looked around in disbelief, unable to quite grasp how it had happened. In retrospect, it had started brewing when she left the house, some days, most days these days, it was wiser to stay at home; a supermarket trip was far too ambitious but the cat needed feeding and Derek was whining about there never being any food in the house when he came home. Then there was the incident in the car park, the woman had been so rude, so unnecessary, so what if it took Irene fifteen attempts to get into the parking space, the concentration required to avoid damaging the other cars around her was draining enough without other women shouting obscenities at her. She idly moved the trolley off the woman’s crumpled body as the manager’s voice came over the tannoy; she really shouldn’t have tried to push in. "Carnage in aisle three, cleanup crew report immediately. Customers are advised to take additional care when passing."

6S

Samantha Entwistle, author of Fairytale Endings, recommends shopping online.