One Mississippi, Two Mississippi

S-h-o-p-p-i-n-g

The walk to the store was brief. Leaf made a loud step step on the pavement, making sure to avoid all the cracks and lines. The breeze was gentle, and a bird was passing by overhead.

"Are you sure you wanna use your whole allowance?" He asked, looking up from the sidewalk at Logainne.

"Well, I mean, I think I want a few dollars left over, but I'll always get more next week." She said, tapping her chin in thought.

Leaf scrunched his nose. He still felt a little guilty for hogging Logainne's whole allowance, but he tried to allow himself this one treat, just this once.

They got to the building, stopping in front of the doors. Leaf hesitated, teetering on his feet.

"Leaf?" Logainne checked in, holding out her hand. He sighed, but drew a large breath and headed inside, taking her hand.

The lights were almost blinding, but Leaf steadied himself as he continued to take deep breaths. Luckily the store wasn't too busy, with a few shoppers crossing the aisles here and there.

Logainne took her shopping list out of her pocket and picked up a basket from a stack next to the doors. "Alright, let's see what we have here." She said as she led Leaf deeper into the store.

Pacifiers

Sippy cups

Coloring books

Kids books

Crayons

Stuffies

She listed each one aloud, scanning through the aisles. Leaf turned a bright red as he heard each item. We're really doing this, he thought to himself.

"You okay?" Logainne checked in again. Leaf nodded, "Yeah, I got this."

She smiled, then caught sight of what she was looking for. "Ah! Pacifiers!" She exclaimed, sprinting to the large selection down the aisle.

Leaf gaped as he followed along, feeling himself getting smaller. There were just so many designs and so many colors all at once. It was a little overwhelming.

Then his eyes settled on a nice blue one with a whale on it. He picked it off the shelf and held it for a second, taking in its design. Then his eyes flitted to millions of others and hesitated, unsure if this was really the right choice.

"You can pick a couple more if you want." Logainne suggested, sensing his indecision.

"Really?" He looked up at her with a smile, and she nodded. He looked back to the shelves. "This one." He pointed out and picked up a green one with a fox on it. "And this one." He pointed to a yellow one with a duck on it, having to get on his tiptoes to get it down.

"Alright, now what's next?" Logainne asked as Leaf put his pacifiers in the basket. They checked the list; sippy cups. Fortunately, a bin with the cups was right next to the pacifiers.

Leaf moved over and started looking. He picked out a green one with dinosaurs on it, and a blue one with monsters on it, looking at Logainne for approval. She nodded, beckoning him over to put them in the basket.

As she looked at the contents of the basket, she took a mental note, 5 dollars left.

Reading the next item on the list, coloring books, she knew she had to move to another section. They weaved through the shelves, then came across a selection of different kids and coloring books.

Leaf looked around for a bit, stopping when his eyes settled on a coloring book about bugs. He smiled, picking it up and skimming through the pages. Satisfied, he held it in his arms.