Chapter 10

Inside, it was pandemonium as customers grabbed merchandise from shelves and threw their purchasesinto shopping carts while wheeling them around the aisles. Philip spotted a display of bottled water, handed a bottle to his mother, and slipped another into his coat pocket. He found some salve and iodine in the first aid section, and Mother dropped them into her purse.

“I think I’ve got a headache,” she said. “Do you think we could find some aspirin?”

“Look at the overhead signs,” he said.

“Pain relievers, two aisles down.”

Philip picked up a box and held it out to her.

“Mm. Not that one,” she said. “It thins the blood. Dr Weissgarten said—”

“Okay,” he said. “You choose. I thought you said you wanted aspirin.”

“Yes, but…oh, dear, what do I mean? Like when you order a soft drink in a restaurant and say you want a Coke, but you really mean anything cold and fizzy like but not necessarily a Coke. Sometimes it’s a Dr. Pepper, other times, a Pepsi, and then they might have Coke and—”