Donna's Corner Store Lance Carson Frustrated, Natalie looked again at her watch. She had been in this checkout line more than fi
fteen minutes. Two people were still ahead of her, and the woman who was up to bat had at least a dozen coupons, which the cashier, who was clearly new, was struggling to scan. The thought of cooking dinner for her family had seemed like a good idea when she was at work today but now she was thinking that they would all have been better off with takeout. Natalie glanced around her and saw other lines that were so long they snaked into the grocery aisles. Her thoughts wandered back to how she would have shopped for a small basketful of items when she was a girl. She would have walked a short distance to Donna's Corner Store at the end of her street. How she wished she could be at Donna's now, even if she had to wait fifteen minutes in line. Unlike shopping at this massive super store, which sold everything from milk to lawn chairs, shopping at Donna's was a pleasant experience. Her small store had only three or four aisles of groceries and a single "checkout line"—an old desk with a cash register on it—at the front of the store. No employees other than family had ever worked there, as far as Natalie knew. Your "cashier" was either Donna, her husband Frank, or their son Danny. Natalie recalled their warmth—you felt as if you were a guest in their home when you shopped there—and in a way, you were. Donna and her family lived above the store. Most people who shopped in the little store with its sparkling tile floor did so daily, taking home what they ran out of or what they needed to cook dinner that evening. Donna knew her customers by name—and she knew where they lived and their family history as well. "Nat-a-LEE!" she would shout when she saw Natalie in the store. "Please tell your grandmother to stop by and see me because I miss her terribly." Donna loved to chat, so much so that she frequently offered her customers a cup of coffee, so they would stay a while. Donna and her family had placed several comfortable chairs near the front of the store, so if you had to wait in line, you could sit and "take a load off." Also near the front of store was a glass case containing dishes of "penny candy." Donna would patiently wait on children who came in with three or four cents and took their time deciding what to buy. "Do you want an ice cream sandwich?" she often asked them and then said she would put the cost on their family's tab, but the grownups knew that the ice cream was simply a gift from her. Natalie put her groceries on the conveyor belt, which was sticky with what looked like spilled juice. When a sale item scanned in as regular price, Natalie informed the cashier who rolled his eyes disrespectfully and hailed the manager. The manager, who looked to be only about twenty, voided Natalie's order and told the cashier to ring it up again. Natalie considered how wonderful a comfortable chair and a cup of coffee would be right now. Read the passage on the left to answer the following questions: 1) Which describes a theme of this text? A) Accepting change is part of growing up. B) Lifelong friendship is dependent on childhood memories. C) In today's modern, busy world, we sometimes feel nostalgic. D) Family relationships are the most important connections in life.
