Is it Fate?

I was grocery shopping with my dad and he told me to get a shopping cart. So, I went to the carts are, and pulled out the first cart I saw. As I was pushing it to the orange stand, where my dad was, I noticed that I had to apply more pressure on one side of the cart to prevent it from going to that side... I had to apply more force than I actually needed, to make the cart to go straight. (Get it?) Soon, I discovered that one of the four wheels was slower than the other three.

Being too lazy to go back and change it, I stood by my dad while he was picking the oranges, asking myself, “Should I go back and change this cart for something that works better?” What if it was fate that led me to pick this cart? If I changed it, would it be going against my fate or would it be fate or predestiny that made me change carts? Then that really got me thinking, if I did change it, wouldn’t it I look stupid standing in front of the carts, picking a different cart and analyzing the efficiency of the wheels? Would it be fate that led me to look really stupid like that?

Before I could really think about it, my dad finished picking the oranges and I had to start pushing the retarded cart that fate led me to choose. Actuallly, I tried to walk away from the cart, so that my dad would push it instead of me, but he just asked, “Can you push the cart?” Anyway, we had to buy cheese (cuz I was gonna make cheese bread with our breadmaker.)

So, walking to the cheese department (and pushing the cart) I realized his always happens to me. Everytime I get a cart I always get a retarded cart. Is it just coincidence or does this reflect the path of my life? Will I always pick the wrong cart in the grocery store called LIFE? Will I always have that one broken wheel in my shopping cart (aka Decisions)? That gave me a chill down my spine... or was it just because I was in the frozen food section?

Anyway, finished with our shopping, we headed toward the “10 items or less” line. I looked down at our cart to put our groceries away and I saw we only had 5 items. Why the hell did I get a cart for only 5 items?
by Kristine Zambrano, May 1995