NOD AND SMILE

"Liz," Maria whined as she opened the door to the grocery store, "how come 

you didn't just lie to her?"  She then jerked her head in the direction of 

Tess, who was on the other side of the store with Alex and Isabel.

"Maria," Liz answered, "you've seen me lie.  It's not pretty OR believable. 

Besides, Isabel was standing right next to me when she asked what we were 

all doing tonight."

"I know," Maria said while looking for a cart that worked properly.  "I just 

wanted to cook a nice dinner for my friends.  Not my friends and some chick 

that I still feel is very sketchy."

"Look at it this way Maria," Liz said while trying to break a cart free from 

the rest, "isn't it better to keep a shifty alien happy rather than pissing 

her off?"

"I know, keep your enemies even closer, blah, blah, blah.  If she sits next 

to Max or Kyle, though, all bets are off."

"Well, clearly," Liz smiled at her loyal friend.  "Kyle?"

"He's rebounding, and that is never pretty.  What the hell do people do to 

these damn carts,"  Maria said in frustration as she found another busted 

one.

At that moment, a cart goes flying by Liz and Maria.  Kyle is in the cart 

while Michael is pushing it as hard as he can.  The cart almost careens out 

of control and into a display of hummus, but Michael uses his powers to 

avert that disaster.

"The future of America, ladies and gentlemen," Maria announces as Max comes 

up behind her and Liz.

"No wonder why I'm afraid at night," Max says, while smiling.

"Max, you made a joke," Maria exclaims, while hugging him.  "I'm so proud, 

my boy's so grown up.  Soon, I won't even recognize him."

"I don't think anyone else will if you don't let me go," Max says when he 

notices the look Michael is giving him.

"Oh, whatever," Maria replies when she catches Michael's look.  "I don't 

even know if we're dating this week."

"From the look on his face," Liz says as the three of them travel down  the 

fruit and vegetable aisle, "I would say you are."

"Yeah, well, even if we weren't, like Max is a real threat to him.  No

offense Max, you just don't vibrate for me.  I don't think Spaceboy has to 

worry about us doing the vertical horizontal anytime soon, right?," Maria 

asks Max while grabbing some lettuce for the salad.

"I'd really like to agree with you," Max says while Liz laughs at the

confused look on his face, "but I have no idea what you just said."

"Never mind," the two girls say in unison as they turn their attention to 

the half of the grocery list that they are in charge of getting.

"We don't have all day, people," Isabel says, annoyed that she got stuck 

with not only Michael as a shopping buddy, but Kyle too.  I mean, what did 

they expect from her, she was not a babysitter.  "The store closes in five 

minutes and these people don't kid about that."

"I know," Kyle said while grabbing some beef jerky, an item which was most 

definitely not on the list, "I got locked in here once and my dad reported 

me as missing and sent all the deputies out looking for me."

"And this was when?  Last week?" Alex questioned as he picked up a few

different kinds of spaghetti sauce.

"Are we done yet," came Tess's strident voice from a few feet behind them. 

"When I heard that Maria was cooking dinner, I didn't know I would have to 

help."  Tess did not really expect an answer, she just felt she needed to 

voice her displeasure at the situation.  As soon as the words were out of 

her mouth, she wandered off.

"Add that to the long lists of things you don't know," Isabel muttered under 

her breath.  Then upon seeing the amused looks she got from Kyle, Alex and 

Michael she asked, "Was that out loud?"

"It's ok, we still love you even though you're petty," Alex says as he threw 

his arm around Isabel's shoulder.  "Plus, we were all most likely thinking 

the same thing."

"I've got a good question," Michael said as he scanned their aisle, "where 

did Tess go?"

"Do we really have to find out?" Kyle asked.  "Can't we just let her fend 

for herself."

"Yeah, I'm sure that she can find a way out or find us again by herself. And 

if she can't, we'll just find her when were done getting the stuff on the 

list," Isabel said, as Alex nodded in agreement.

"Fine," Michael said with a smile on his face, "but, unfortunately, Tess has 

the list.  Now, if you guys want to explain to Maria that you gave Tess, the 

person she didn't want coming to her dinner party, the person who made us 

late getting here, the person who is allergic to half the stuff she was 

planning to cook, the list and that is why we have," he paused as he looked 

into the cart, "beef jerky, conditioner, a cheesy plastic child's game and a 

loaf of bread, only one of these items is on the list mind you, go ahead. 

YOU explain it to her, I'm sure she'll take it really well."

As Michael finished his speech, a bit of panic showed on the rest of the 

group's face.  Alex began writing out the list from memory while Isabel and 

Kyle yelled, "TESS!!!"

Tess heard her name being called but she just ignored it.  They wouldn't 

leave without her, she was confident of that.  She loved grocery stores, 

especially opening the food and trying it.  Which was what she was up to 

now.  She opened packages haphazardly and tried everything.  She wasn't 

allergic to anything, she just found the faces that Maria made when she was 

angry amusing.  She had planned to tell her when they got into the store but 

she had forgotten.  She had to remember to get the milk and that was about 

all that she could handle.  She had put the list down on top of a display of 

toilet paper and had now forgotten what, exactly, she was in charge of

getting.  She knew that it was cold.

She walked over the the freezers and looked at them, hard.  "What was it," 

she said as she looked through the glass.  She COULD go and look for Alex or 

Liz to help her, but that would require effort.  She was going through the 

alphabet to help her to remember what to buy when all thoughts went out of 

her head.  Far back, on one of the freezer shelves, she saw her favorite 

beverage.  She hadn't seen it in years and had thought they discontinued it. 

She reached in, but her short arms could not get the bottle.  She stepped 

into the freezer.  As the door closed behind her, the intercom blared the 

announcement, "The store is now closing, please proceed to the checkout 

counters."

"Done," Liz said while crosses off the last item on their list.  "And, see, 

by plotting out what to get first based on where they were located in the 

store, we are right back at the checkout line."

"Liz, you just got WAY too excited about that," Maria said, while ducking 

the napkins that Liz threw at her.

"Girls, girls, don't fight," Max said as he stood between them.  "At least 

not when I don't have my video camera with me."

"So you are a typical guy," Maria said.  One of the store workers came up to 

them.  "Is this all of your party?" he asked them.

"Actually, a few more of our friends are wandering around somewhere," Max 

said.

"No they're not," Liz said, spotting Isabel and Alex.  She turned around and 

faced the clerk, "here comes the rest of them, Brian" she said, reading the 

name tag on the shirt.

"Thanks," he turned around and yelled, "close it up!" to another one of his 

coworkers.

Tess had gotten her favorite drink.  It was called Skankade.  She couldn't 

figure out why it hadn't caught on, it was so good.  She had finished the 

first bottle and was opening a second when she thought she heard a soft 

click coming from the freezer doors.  But, she decided, it had to be her 

imagination.  She then opened the second bottle.  "It's getting really cold 

in here," she said to herself, but Skankade was worth a little discomfort.

After a few more bottles, the effect of Skankade kicked in.  It always made 

her very sleepy.  She had drank all of the bottles that should could find, 

six in total.  She began to nod off into what would be her eternal sleep.

Checkout has been a nightmare.  At the last moment, Maria had noticed they 

were missing a few items, so the rest of the group went running throughout 

the store to get everything.  In the commotion, Isabel forgot to tell Max 

that they had misplaced Tess.  The store workers were anxious to get off of 

work, so they did everything quickly.  The gang paid the bill and each group 

took half of the groceries.

Maria saw that half of the other group was still in the store getting the 

bags.  She yelled to Michael and Isabel who were waiting for the stragglers, 

"Is Tess with you?"

"WHAT," they both yelled back across the wide parking lot.

"IS TESS WITH YOU?" the threesome of Liz, Maria and Max screamed.

"Do you have any idea what they just said," Isabel asked Michael.

"Nope, but just nod and smile, that's what I usually do when Maria asks me 

something that I don't understand," he answered.

"That's so romantic.  And you wonder why she gets frustrated with you," 

Isabel replied.

"Well, it's never backfired on me yet," he said.

They then heard yelling from Maria as she leaned out of the driver's side 

window.

"What's going on," Kyle asked as he and Alex lugged the rest of the

groceries out of the store.

"I don't know," Isabel said to them, "but just nod and smile.  What harm can 

is possibly do?"

The End

Next DOT

DOT main page