You can tell a lot about a person from the items in their grocery cart. The things you buy purposefully to bring into your home…they’re different…different from the food you buy at a restaurant or a drive-thru. Because when you take it home, it’s real. It really counts if you make it in your own kitchen or put it in your pantry.
It’s become somewhat of a hobby, especially for someone who likes to eat as much as she does. Kara can tell the difference between a recent college grad or a 30-something at first glance…or a single mom from a bachelor at ten paces. She chuckles to herself as she grabs her cart and pushes through the automatic doors. She should get out more.
Kara pushes her squeaky cart past the bakery counter, gives a wide smile to Bernice, who’s busy squeezing out icing onto a sheet cake that is so fluorescent one must wonder if it’s safe to ingest.
She passes the deli counter next where she spots her sophomore English teacher flirting with Miss Winifred, who’s cooked in that deli since she can remember sitting in one of the baskets of one of the shopping carts she’s sure is squeaking around this store right now. When Winnie rolls her eyes at the balding man, she catches Kara’s eye and gives her that ‘can you believe this’ look that makes the younger woman snicker. While he’s still distracted, Kara stops and picks up a gigantic cheese log out of the cooler next to him and sets it down silently in his cart. With a wink to a smirking Miss Winifred, she’s on her way to the produce section.
This is where Kara’s afore mentioned hobby comes into play the most. Admittedly, she struggles with the fruits and vegetables she knows she should eat when really, she just wants to buy a cart load of pizza roll family packs and be done with it. But she tries.
She’s making her way towards the cut veggies when she sees an abandoned cart. Hmmm. Baby spinach, grape tomatoes, shredded carrots. Rabbit food, she surmises pretty quickly. Must be a health nut or at least someone on a health fit for a bit…then she sees the real treasures towards the back…the best red wine this grocery has ever seen and…a family size pack of M&Ms. Bingo. Single, middle-aged…Kara’s thoughts wander off when her gaze is pulled from a family size container of baby spinach to 4-inch designer heels which she never thought she’d see in this town.
Those heels belong to legs that shouldn’t be legal and end in a simple, black pencil skirt. As Kara’s eyes slowly peruse their way up past a soft, silken burgundy blouse…a hip pops out and she ends upon a bemused smile that could fluster the masses.
“Is there something special in my cart that you’d like me to introduce you to? You seem a little flustered,” says the blonde goddess in the pencil skirt.
“Uh…I was just…uh, looking for the cut vegetables,” Kara says quickly to cover her floundering, as if she’d known the answer all along. “I didn’t mean to pry, but there was no one nearby.” She finishes strong, clenching her hands around the handle of her cart to quell her sudden bout of nervousness.
“Hmmm,” the slim blonde replies, “well, I guess I can forgive our little town’s newest sheriff for a little bit while she gets her bearings.”
Kara’s head pops up from the hole she was trying to create out of nothing. “What? I mean…, uh, you know who I am?” she asks, the 10-year-old girl popping right out of her, just like it would have years ago following along after her foster mom in this same store.
The slim blonde chuckles again before pushing her cart just a few feet down and grabbing a few, ripe bell-peppers from the pile to toss into her cart. “I would hope so, darling. I’m the one who hired you,” she says with a smirk that Kara feels to her bones.
Kara freezes. She knows the mayor of this small town is new, an outsider, as local town-folk would call her, but she’s good…so good. She’s strong with the local law enforcement, to build them up, to make them better. To make the town better. She was hired by Cat Grant herself. “You’re Cat Grant,” is the only thing Kara can get out, thanking every deity on earth that she had already loaded up on her obligatory fruit and vegetable list.
“Kara Danvers, I presume,” Cat says as she takes a few short steps backward to lift her hand in Kara’s direction. “It’s always…satisfying to put a name to a face, well, at least real-life face. I did see pictures,” Cat confesses with a wink.
“Very satisfying,” is the only completely ridiculous thing that Kara can come up with in the moment. She mentally kicks herself in the head as she takes the dainty hand in her own and squeezes lightly. “I’ve been looking forward to our meeting on Monday, Miss Grant,” Kara says. “Thank you for giving me the time to readjust to small-town life.”
“Well, I think we both needed the time, Miss Danvers,” Cat says, perusing the pre-cut fresh fruit. “This town has seen its share of turmoil in the last few months. I know change takes time.”
“It definitely does,” Kara murmurs.
“I know that you grew up here, Kara,” Cat says with a familiarity that she doesn’t really have. “I’ll be honest, when your resume came across my desk, that was what caught my attention the most. This was your town.” She says it with a finality that draws Kara out, makes her want to lay claim to the small town that changed her life.
“It still is my town, Miss Grant,” Kara says defiantly. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to lead it back into the peaceful times it should have never left. My time in law enforcement before now has been the best training available. I’m ready to bring the peace back to Midvale.”
Cat settles her hip more firmly against the side of her cart. She sees the determination on that young, beautiful face and she’s ready to mold it into what she needs. “Midvale has been waiting for you to come back, Miss Danvers. I’m glad to be here when you arrive.”