Sisyphus at the Mankato Hyvee
Rebecca Fremo Monday morning: 7:00 a.m. Mothers troll end caps for bargains, babies recline luxuriously in strollers. Toddlers drive race carts, nibbling cookies and string cheese (complimentary). Giving the stink eye to parents that can’t control their goddamn kids, curmudgeons wheeze by on scooters. Across the store, a stock boy heaves himself against a pallet heaped with fifteen brands of yogurt and cartons of Move Over Butter. He is still young and beautiful, with steely blue eyes and strong forearms; I admire them as he rolls up his sleeves. The boy tightens his apron, preparing for the day’s challenge: produce towers of yogurt, artfully arranged by expiration date; highlight type, brand, and flavor. His lips move silently: Oikos Nonfat Vanilla, Dannon Two Percent Greek Vanilla, Lowfat Hyvee Cherry Vanilla. I reach to the back of the dairy case for the freshest container. Wordlessly, he replaces it. |
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About the Author: Rebecca Fremo writes poetry and creative nonfiction and teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College. Her poems and essays have appeared in journals including Water~Stone Review, Tidal Basin Review, Lake Region Review, Paper Darts, Mankato Magazine, Poetica, Naugatuck River Review, Full Grown People, and Compose. Her chapbook, Chasing Northern Lights, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2012. A Richmond, Virginia, native, she now braves the winters in St. Peter, Minnesota, with her husband and three sons.