Big Towel, Bigger Problems

Zoey rolled to a stop right at the front of the grocery store her mom had asked her to stop at. Gina’s Grocer, a small little shop that only carried the essentials of a grocery store, a few local produce options, and a great deal of drink options for beachside customers. Zoey sighed as she stepped out of her jeep, carefully refitting her towel as she began to walk through the sliding glass door.

Two registers where on the right of the entrance, as well as a small assortment of sunscreen bottles. To the left, was a long line of about 10 different aisles. There had been only two other cars in the lot, and Zoey knew from firsthand experience that both of them were the closing shift employees. The register girl was a bored looking girl her own age with black hair and noticeable tattoos on her upper arm, who seemed to be absent-mindedly flipping through some magazine. She only looked up briefly, before turning back to her magazine without so much as a greeting. Zoey could see the other employee mopping the outside of the furthest aisle, a tall raven skinned woman with a curvaceous figure. The woman offered a cheery wave, and a smile. “Hiya Zoey! Haven’t seen you in here in a minute! Work got you all tied up?” She asked, continuing her work mopping the floor.

Zoey shrugged. She was happy that if someone saw her shopping just a towel, it would be her upbeat friend from college. She knew this woman was probably too bubbly at the core to even notice, but wouldn’t react negatively or teasingly if she did. The two had shared more than a few classes together in the most recent year. “Just work, school, school and work. How about you Jenna?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m fine! I’ve been meaning to try and get some Sun down at the beach while you’re on shift, what days do you work?” Jenna asked cheerily.

Zoey and Jenna enjoyed a conversation that lasted well into twenty minutes, and Zoey almost completely forgot about what little she was wearing, until she almost felt the towel drop out of nowhere. She wa s quick to adjust the towel, and decided she needed to exit the conversation before she unwittingly exposed herself.

Fortunately, she was saved by a loud cough from the girl at the register. “Jenna, we should probably let her just grab what she came here for, or we’re never gonna leave.” The girl said, standing up from her chair. “You finish up the mopping, and I’ll go ahead and restock the last little bit on aisle 3.”

Jenna nodded fervently, before turning to Zoey. “I’d love to talk about this some other time, but we kinda need to close. I have no issue staying late, but I don’t think April does…” She said with a slight laugh.

With that, Zoey moved along and grabbed a basket from the front of the store. It was a short list of five items she had to grab. Milk, cheese, eggs, bread, and a bottle of sunscreen. That was it. Zoey wasn’t sure what a bottle of sunscreen had to do with a book club, but decided it would be better to just grab it and ask questions later.

As Zoey began moving through the store, she began to become very aware of multiple problems with her towel. The first, was that it was so large, that the corners kept getting stuck on almost anything. The second, was when she noticed that without support from a hand to hold it up, the towel would never hold against its own weight for longer than a 10 seconds, less even if she was walking. The third problem, was that her towel was very hard to keep shut while trying to hold a grocery basket in one hand, and grab another item with the other.