CAN I THINK OUT OF THE BOX?

Well, I have these two neurons that maybe can, also it’s not a box, it’s a chocolate wrapper.

I was at the supermarket for the usual round of shopping. When I finally went to pay there were two checkout lines, 2 and 4, both pretty long.
So I picked mine, number 2, but kept my senses alert for the announcement,  and sure enough, not a full minute later, one of the cashiers summoned a colleague to open checkout number 3. As I nimbly stepped out of my own line to be the first to occupy the coveted spot, a chap from the other line, just as nimbly, did the same.
Noticing he had a mere handful of groceries while I had one of those plastic trolleys I had packed so full it was hoping to die and be reborn as full-size cart, I was the first to apologise and bade him to take the lead.

“Thanks, I’ll set my stuff on the counter,” he said, “but you can go first. I still need to grab a chocolate bar.”
My eyes darted towards my trolley…I too had chocolate on my list, but had forgotten it!
The trolley stared back, daring me to even think of stuffing it any further.
My brain scrambled for a solution.  Losing my twice-won spot for just one missing item was out of the question.
But then again…it was chocolate we were talking about…

In the mild panic caused by the thought of being without my brown soul comfort, two entirely unrelated neurons, who had hitherto never had the chance to work together, bumped against each other and, before I could double check the solution they came up with, I blurted out the following phrase:
“Oh, would you mind getting me one too?”
Despite the fact that a total stranger had just asked him to do shopping for him, the other guy did not skip a beat.
“What kind?” He asked.
I could tell, from the tone of his voice, that he was grinning under the mask.
“Lindt, 70%, thank you.” I was grinning too.
“Gotcha!”
So here I am, savoring my chocolate, and thinking I would never be able to use a dialogue like that in my books because “real people don’t act like that”.

I’m still grinning and this chocolate never tasted better.

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