Not the Grocery Store Again!

"Come on, Leo. Grocery store." Leo's whole body went noodle. "Nooooo." "Yes. Let's go." "But it's BORING." Leo dragged his feet to the car. "I hate the grocery store." Dad buckled him in. "I know. It's not your favorite." "It's my LEAST favorite. There's nothing to do. You take forever. And you always say no to the good cereal." Dad didn't argue. He just started driving. At the store, Leo slumped in the cart. The lights were too bright. The music was weird. A lady was blocking the whole aisle with her cart and Leo had to wait while Dad said "excuse me" three times. "This is the worst," Leo announced. Dad stopped the cart. "Okay. I have an idea." "What." "Secret mission." Leo sat up a little. "What kind of mission?" "I need you to find three red things. Before we get to checkout. Can you do that?" Leo looked around. Red things. He spotted a tomato in someone else's cart. "One," he said. "Good eye. Keep going." They moved down the aisle. Leo scanned everything. A red soup can. "Two!" "Nice. One more." They turned the corner. Leo looked at the cereals. Most were yellow or blue or green. Wait—there. A red box, way up high. "THREE!" Leo pointed. "Mission complete," Dad said. "Want another one?" Leo nodded. "Find something that starts with the letter B." By the time they got to checkout, Leo had completed four missions. He'd found something round, something cold, something smaller than his hand, and something that started with P (pickles—he was pretty proud of that one). "We're done?" Leo said. "Already?" "Already." In the car, Leo thought about something. "Dad?" "Yeah?" "The grocery store was still kind of boring." Dad laughed. "Yeah. It kind of is." "But the missions helped." "Good. We'll do them again next time." Leo looked out the window. He wasn't excited about next time, exactly. But he wasn't dreading it either. Maybe he could find four green things. Or something shaped like a triangle. He was already planning.