Contemplating the connection between fresh produce and the functional mentally ill after a chance encounter such as this, I'm a little amused and floored by the interaction I had at Publix not more than a week ago. I was doing my usual trek for whole food and diet coke. Making my way quickly through the front of the store, I waded through a sea of afternoon customers, into the produce section of the building.
I usually enjoy a banana with breakfast, so it's a given that I have to grab some each week. I find the display with the usual spread of Dole and Chiquita. There's an elderly lady to my immediate right, perusing the right side of the offering. I notice she is picking up every cluster of bananas on the display, looking at all angles, smelling them, feeling them, even talking to them. She's eccentric, I guess. I figure there's enough room at this display for both of us to look through what's laid out.
I figured wrong. I reach to grab some bananas that aren't too green, but not too yellow, and immediately, Grandmother decides to howl at decibel level at my violation of her property.
"I was just about to get those!" she screams, scaring the absolute shit out of me. I drop the bananas in the floor, and look directly at her. I bend over, pick them up, place them back on the display. She scowls, and replies,"Well I don't want those disgusting things now, you can just keep them!"
I decide to step away from the display, turn to grab a couple of granny smith apples, and leave my new best friend to her banana ball.
"Hon, don't worry about her, she's been standing there for over an hour," one of the bakery workers said, across the counter. "She'll head over to the tomatoes in a few minutes and do the same thing, then you can grab what you want. We've called the police to come attend to her."
It was rather sad now that I think about it. That's someone's mother, or grandmother. I can only hope when I'm that age that I keep most of my faculties, and if not, maybe someone dear to me will keep me from stalking the produce section of my local grocery store.
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