Carl looked at the elephant and gave it the finger.
“It’s the best I could do,” I told him. “They don’t sell Armani here. Anyway, it’s cute.”
“It’s pink,” Diesel said.
“And?”
“Just saying.”
We made our way through produce and into prepared foods. Carl was slouched in the cart, arms folded across his chest, lower lip stuck out in a pout, not happy with the pink elephant. He perked up when we got to the cereal aisle.
“Would you like some cereal?” I asked him.
Carl jumped to his feet, snatched a box of Froot Loops off the shelf, ripped it open, and stuck his face in the box.
“Hey!” I said to him.
He took his face out of the box and looked at me.
“Manners.”
He threw the box over his shoulder, into the basket, and focused on the display of Frosted Flakes. “Eeee?”
“Okay,” I told him, tossing Frosted Flakes into the basket beside the Froot Loops, “but this is the last of the cereal.”
“Look at us,” Diesel said. “We’re the all-American family.”
We rounded the end of the cereal aisle and quickly walked past women’s personal products and men’s sexual necessities. I paused at dental care.
“Does he brush his teeth?” I asked Diesel.
“I don’t know, but he should,” Diesel said. “I’m not looking forward to waking up to monkey breath.”
“Do you brush your teeth?” I asked Carl, showing him a toothbrush.
Carl looked at the toothbrush and shrugged. He didn’t know toothbrush. I tossed the toothbrush and some toothpaste into the cart. We rounded the end of the aisle and pushed into cookies and crackers.
Carl was instantly standing again. Carl liked cookies. “Eep!” he said, pointing to Fig Newtons, Oreos, Nutter Butters. “Eep. Eeeep.” Carl was in a frenzy, jumping up and down, wanting everything. He grabbed at the Mint Milanos.
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“Wait,” I said. “I don’t know if monkeys can eat chocolate.” I looked at Diesel. “Can monkeys eat chocolate?”
“Lizzy, I can open locks, sniff out evil, and I can give you the best time of your life, but I don’t know a whole lot about monkeys.”
“Let’s stick to peanut butter and gingerbread,” I said to Carl. “When I get home, I’ll Google chocolate.”
We added a couple bags of cookies to the cart and moved on to dairy. I needed butter, eggs, and milk.
Carl spied rice pudding and frantically pointed to it. “Woo, woo, woo!” he said.
“Sure,” I said, handing him a tub of rice pudding.
Carl opened the tub and looked inside. He swiped some up on his finger and tasted it.
“You’re not supposed to eat it now,” I told him. “You have to wait until we get home.”
Carl looked at me and then looked at Diesel.