supermarket

Saturday. Supermarket. Shopping rush hour. Shoe department. Unnoticed, I pulled up behind a familiar couple. I hesitated to greet the neighbors, but standing right next to them, I could hear their conversation; it turned out to be more engaging than talking to them.

"Well, honey, it's either fish or an aquarium!" Albert refused to give up, but Malina insisted on the shoes she'd chosen. I glanced at the shoes and agreed with Malina. The pumps were worthy of desire and financial ruin.

"You have to plan your shopping rationally, not on whims! I told you, it's either fish or an aquarium!"

Malina looked at her husband with a surprised, somewhat absent-minded look.

"What good are fish without an aquarium?" she asked, not without reason, and I silently agreed with her again. It was a kind of female solidarity, I guess.

"Oh my! That's a saying!" Albert sounded irritated.

"But it's completely illogical!" I also understand the aquarium itself; you can put mice in there, a rabbit, even a lizard, and you can even plant flowers! Malina insisted on trying to understand the meaning of the phrase.

"Give it a rest!" Albert was clearly losing patience.

"Wait a minute! But tell me, where's the point?" Malina continued.

"Maybe there isn't! But what does it matter?"

They were already talking in raised voices, and I wasn't the only one eavesdropping. An argument was brewing. The reason was serious.

"Well, why do you need just fish, and aquarium fish at that?" Malina was stubborn

. "Oh my! I don't know why I need just fish! You can fry them and eat them yourself!" Albert retorted to his wife and pushed the basket toward the next stall.

"You've got to be crazy!" Malina trotted after her husband, still clutching the shoes she'd longed for. "I'm not eating aquarium fish! Ugh!" she shook off her revulsion.

I stayed close by, but I almost burst out laughing at the thought of my neighbor frying, say, an angelfish or a swordtail.

"What a woman! Then put a trout or an alba carp in the tank, keep it there for a while, then kill it, fry it, and eat it!" Albert was fed up with his wife, the fish, and the tank.

"What a sadist you are! You know how much a carp or trout would suffer in such a small tank!" Malina couldn't hide her indignation at her husband's idea.

Albert wordlessly quickened his pace to get to the checkout as quickly as possible.

"You sadist!" Malina shouted after her husband.

"Then put those fish in the bathtub!" he shouted back, hoping his wife would finally change the subject.

"Exactly! I need a bathtub, and I'm not giving up a bathtub for some fish!" Malina wasn't easily put off.

"Listen! Either you change the subject, or I'll never touch fish in any form again in my life!"

"Yes! So starting tomorrow, it'll be fish for dinner!" Malina had to get her way. The argument escalated, but I was so engrossed in their argument that I forgot about my own purchases. It wasn't until I was in the checkout line that I realized the basket contained only a head of cabbage and some dead pork ribs, a soupy carcass.

Reluctantly, I left the line and went back to the dining room to finish my shopping.