His clear green eyes were the only things left innocent about him. His adidas shoes flopped down aisles, slowly leading him to his.. future? That’s usually a good thing.-Not exactly in this case. He wished he were with his basketball friends, picking out some chips for the game that night. Christopher even wished his mom, looking for a healthy brand of cereal or new toothpaste, were dragging him through the store. This grocery store smelled of bleach and the temperature was too chilly to just be wearing such a thing t-shirt. HE had never been down this aisle before. Aisle 6. His palms started to sweat and his forehead turned hot under his shaggy brown hair. He looked above him towards the neon white lights, dangling from the pipes in the ceiling. How many watts did those bulbs hold? Anything. Anything to keep his 17-year-old mind off of this 26 year old situation. In the middle of the aisle stood a warning-slippery-wet floor sign. He hoped he’d fall and break his neck. Maybe his parents might give him sympathy then. He inched towards the end of the aisle, eyeing Oleson’s for any familiar face. She was outside of the store sitting in his old beat up Honda, throwing up. She had been for four days. Christopher knew he should hurry up. Grow up Christopher, it’s time to man up. He thought about how his mom still packs his lunch everyday as he grabbed the pregnancy test. He tucked it into his back pocket without thinking, and held a steady pace as he made his way out of the sliding glass door.


“Hey sir. Sir! I saw you!” a fat bellied clerk yelled over the magazine rack. HE stopped dead in his tracks.”


“Um-I’m sorry, I was going to pay for it. I just, wanted to hide it?”, the boy trembled.


The clerk gave him a crooked glance, then saw what he was holding.


“Oh-gee, a good ol’ smiley face test”, the clerk jokingly said. He nudged Christopher in the arm and led him to the nearest cash register. There was nothing entertaining or “silly” about this dilemma. He felt that he was going to puke, and he wasn’t even the one with a baby in his stomach.