I want to shout, “Can you all please move? Can I go ahead of all of you? I need to buy something for my sister to eat"

“Are you in the grocery by any chance?” my niece Leah asks when I answer my phone.

I’m not. I’m working, trying to finish up two reports before I leave early to attend a family wedding. But I plan to go to the grocery store soon. On my way home.

“I’ll also get there soon. I need someone now. My mother’s in the mood for a slice of salmon, and my father is leaving for the hospital shortly to visit her.”

I’m no longer working. I grab a fistful of bills from my purse and hurry out the door. Down the stairs. Past the warehouse, into the café adjoining the grocery. My sister Toby wants a slice of salmon!

It’s early Wednesday afternoon, and the place is mobbed. Quite a few people are ahead of me in the line. I want to shout, “Can you all please move? Can I go ahead of all of you? I need to buy something for my sister to eat. The sister who we almost lost three days ago.”

I deliberate over the choices available as the line moves at a pace mismatched to my energy levels. Sweet or savory? To be on the safe side, I’ll order one of each. Because I can actually buy a slice of salmon for Toby.

She’s alive!

She can eat!

She wants to eat!