Walmart, Cody, Wyoming

The first best thing about the old lady standing behind me in the checkout line at Walmart was that she was very old and not afraid of wearing flamingly bright red lipstick, applied in two strong brushstrokes, to make sure you knew she was still alive.

The second best thing was that she was still taking an interest in herself, and seemed confident that she was the best dressed woman in Walmart.

She stood behind her shopping cart like it was a wagon train and the things in it were already giving her sustenance, were in fact holding her upright--a frozen strawberry cream pie, miniature crumb donuts in a cellophane bag, two apples, carrots, and a tub of sour cream.

The cashier, 2 inches taller than a dwarf who stood on a platform hidden behind the checkout counter, kept up a running commentary. Oh those strawberry cream pie's are so good, she said, seeing the old lady 's pie laying on the conveyor belt in line behind me.

Do you have a crockpot, the very small cashier asked me, seeing that I had carrots, onions, celery, parsnips. You should put all of these vegetables in the crockpot and add a quail, she said.

Does Walmart sell quail, I asked.

No, the cashier said, you have to hunt the quail yourself.

I looked back at the old lady to see if she'd heard what the cashier said about having to hunt your own quail.

The old lady had the most amazing eyeglasses, the kind popular in the 1950s, with fluted frames and three rhinestones on each side of the frame where the lenses meet the hinge. Her eyeglasses made her eyes so big they looked like they'd taken over her whole body, big dark bug eyes that could still see everything they needed to see.

I don't think she heard the bit about the quail but she smiled at me, kind of mischievously, like a little girl who knew she'd soon be home eating strawberry cream pie.