'The man'

#storycorner
What do you think? Is this how men are?



He walks into Tesco, mentally taking notes of what to get for his newly bought flat. He grins, seeing as most of what he needs is in the confectionary aisle. With his gruff fingers, he grabs onto a packet of mini eggs, a packet of chocolate digestives, crisps, candy bars and sweets. He remembers something; limps to the next aisle down to pick up a bag of apples. He must keep tabs on his healthy eating as his doctor has told him;
“You are borderline diabetes.”

He shakes the thought off his shoulders and turns around to look at the checkout points: they are all rammed with ladies and their children sitting in overflowing shopping trolleys. He grunts underneath his hot breath until he spots the self service checkout. His eyes gleam in delight as he makes his way with the hand basket dangling from his meaty arm.

He steps in front of the screen and stares at the flashing start button. He looks at everyone else tapping the screens, and scanning their items with ease. Taking a deep breath, he points his index finger with a little grit under the nail, and pokes the start button. A female voice tickles his eardrums.

“Welcome, scan your first item.”

He takes the digestive packet and swipes it along the clear surface. It beeps. He sees the bag on the left hand side and dumps it in. With this new found knowledge, he scans the rest of the confectionary goods like a pro; he’s thinking about how he will enjoy all of this when he gets home.
He swipes the apples, but the price doesn’t go through. The woman’s voice comes on again.

“Scan your items, or press finish”

He pokes the screen again. Nothing happens. He pokes the other sections on the main screen to find where the apples are. He starts to tremble. Where is it? He scans the apples again. Nothing. It’s been a busy day in Tesco and the self service machines have all been filled. A queue starts to form. A sheet of sweat covers his pimpled brow. Out of all the items, it had to be the one I didn’t want! He grumbles again. He’s looking around seeing the people dispense the money and leave. He can’t.
He can feel his heart beat quickening. The queue keeps on building up and he’s now using all of his fingers to poke the button.
He takes a deep breath, bows his head down, swallows his pride and opens his mouth.

“Excuse me, can I have a bit of help please?”