Friday, October 19, 2012

I Can't Read This

"Thank you for running this errand."

"No problem," Hank said, grabbing a grocery bag in each hand.  "There are two bags behind the driver's seat."  Marsha followed him in the house with the remaining groceries.

"I'll put the cold items away if you want to shelve the pantry items."  Marsha hefted a gallon of milk  and slid it in the refrigerator.  She stashed the cheddar and the deli ham and grabbed the pink-lidded yogurts from the second bag.

"They didn't have any Surf, so I got a bottle of Tide.  Hope that's okay."

Marsha poked her head out of the refrigerator.  "What was that?"

"They didn't have any Surf, so I brought home a bottle of Tide."  Marsha looked at her husband quizzically.  "And it doesn't come by the pound.  They sell it by the number of washes.  I think this bottle is for eighty-some loads."  Hank went back to the pantry.

"Why did you buy laundry detergent?  I didn't ask you to buy detergent.  I bought an enormous bottle last week."

"It was on your list."  He handed her the crumpled paper.

"That doesn't say Surf.  That says sugar.  I needed a five-pound bag of sugar."  Marsha rolled her eyes.

Hank snatched the list, adjusted his glasses, squinting at the scribbles.  "Looks like Surf to me.  Your f's and g's are all squiggles and loops.  Maybe you need to write more clearly."

"Maybe you need new glasses."  Marsha sighed and gathered the empty canvas bags.

"I'll go out to for the sugar."

"Never mind.  I was going to make cookies, but we don't need sweets around the house.  Hank, where are you going?"

"To the store.  We'll start our diet tomorrow."  Hank kissed Marsha on the cheek, grabbed his keys and head back to the market.
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Linking up with The Red Dress Club.  This week's prompt:  300 words focusing on tension arising from a misinterpreted written note or eavesdropped conversation.

5 comments:

  1. Ha! I had to laugh when I read this, I have terrible handwriting and have received more than one text message clarifying my grocery list. I loved that the misunderstanding here only lead to delayed cookies, rather than doom death or destruction!

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  2. Absolutely! Start the diet tomorrow. Sugar is an immoral imperative.

    Love the playfulness of this scene. My husband's done that to me a couple of times via text messaging "auto" correct. I make him do the second trip. :)

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  3. sweet and innocent-great job!

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  4. What a cute couple! My husband would be so irritated that I wouldn't make him a sandwich, let alone cookies! I loved how sweet and tender this was!

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  5. My husband always twits me about my handwriting, too. :) I like how nicely they resolved the conflict caused by the misinterpretation, too. This is so sweet compared to all the rest of us heaping doom on top of gloom. :) :) :)

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