The Three Shopping Musketeers
The amusing
appearance of the three musketeers, or so it seemed, as these three men were sent
on errands by their spouses to shop at an ethnic grocery and foodstuffs
store. They wheeled the trolley with the dexterity of a Formula 1 driver, but
the filling of it resembled the discombobulation of three blind mice on the run
after their tails were cut.
For one, they
appeared entirely out of their depth, clearly in alien territory and unsure of
what they needed to get. They were constantly on the phone with someone, trying
to describe items to ascertain the right thing to put in the basket.
If that task were not
hard enough, the banter between them at the butcher's counter, where they
attempted to display their knowledge of meats, revealed more about their
dilettantism than any genuine expertise.
Lost in the Aisles
I engaged them,
asking why their wives were not doing the shopping and whether they were aware
of the measures, weights, packaging or containers for whatever they were
getting. They were lost in aisle after aisle, perambulating without the focus
of a shopper with intent. If the trolley had an odometer, the mileage counter
would have had someone asking if they had been to Timbuktu and back.
There they were, in
full recognition of their helplessness, yet the most important thing they could
have done is what deserts men when they need it most: ask a question, get
clarification, seek understanding, all of which does not suggest stupidity but
curiosity.
In this, The Three Musketeers had brought to light the loyalty of their friendship, the bravery of
doing something outside their abilities, the camaraderie of men lost in
a store, and the swashbuckling adventure with a trolley now delirious from whirling
around the aisles.
All for One
Maybe I should have
offered to help if they had betrayed the slightest vulnerability, but bravado
was on display without any sign of winning, and I found much mirth at their
expense. It would have been impolite to insert myself because they were
perfectly representing the “All for one, and one for all” motto of The Three
Musketeers.
As I was leaving the
store, I intimated that it would be closing in 30 minutes and they had better
hurry up, or they would be pulling down the shutters with nothing to show for
their, what's the word now? Excursion!