Walter had been standing in the pharmacy line long enough to read every vitamin bottle on the shelf beside him.
The woman in front of him asked about coupons. The man behind him kept sighing at the ceiling. Walter just leaned on his cane and waited.
When he finally reached the counter, the young clerk looked embarrassed.
“I am so sorry, sir,” she said. “You had to wait almost twenty minutes.”
Walter smiled and lowered his voice, though not quite enough.
“Miss, I have been married fifty-two years. Twenty minutes is still considered a quick answer at my house.”
The woman with the coupons turned around first. Then the man behind him started laughing so hard he forgot to sigh.
The clerk covered her mouth and said, “I hope your wife does not hear that.”
Walter tapped the counter.
“She will,” he said. “She hears everything. Just not when I ask where my glasses are.”
That was when the whole line lost it.
