He swallowed the
zinc
pill with the water, gulped, and hoped he had enough in his belly. He had definitely eaten enough for breakfast, but it had been some time since then. Maybe he ought to have waited until he had lunch. Yes that would have been the safer move, but he had forgotten to take his zinc supplement the previous two days, and it had happened because he had always gone with the safe path of waiting until he had a big enough meal in him before taking it.
The truth for him was that he had to take it after breakfast, or he would never take it at all. Zinc, at least the kind he had, picolante, made him nauseous when there wasn't enough food inside of him. From reading on the internet he knew that zinc picolante wasn't the best form in terms of bioavailability. But after having done so many hours of research he could not come to an obvious 'best' form for zinc.
It had been easy to figure out the best form for
magnesium
. The
Church of Twitter
had a resounding answer for the most effective kind: glycinate. So he bought that from his Healthy Foods grocery store with no sweat. When it came to Zinc he was stuck trying between different kinds. This month he was on picolante. He said he would not be buying it again.
At the checkout aisle the girl asked him if he was a member of the grocery store. He shook his head. She was surprised.
"Say I see you in here so much. I would've sworn that you were a member by now."
"I really should become a member shouldn't I?"
"Yeah, it's really easy. You could just get it over with right now."
get it over with she said that as a joke, as to imply that she understood that he did not want to bother with the beauracratic task of "signing up" to be a member. This inside joke actually made him sincerely consider signing up. The countless times another
cashier
had asked him if he'd like to sign up he didn't give it a second thought.
He thought about asking her the benefits that came with being a member. One of the last things his ex had told him was that he was too anal. That he was too serious about figuring out all the facts and cross referencing the pros and cons, performing a detailed cost basis analysis before making any decision. At first such had been attractive, however overtime this pattern had become overbearing.
It was interesting how quick someone becomes honest with you, especially on your flaws, once it is known that you will be separating.
He thought about all the time he had spent on the internet, reading through forums and watching
Youtube
trying to figure out the best mattress pad, or wifi router, or the best form of zinc... And he thought about all that he may have been doing instead during that time.
Someone who had the same habits and interests as him might remind him, "hey if you enjoy doing that then is it really time wasted?" and he used to be able to say with confidence that it was indeed true. He liked doing all those things.
So why did it bug him now? Thinking about it now? Was it just because he had gotten broken up with? Did this perhaps make him reconsider what he liked? Or was it that he still liked the same things but now wasn't sure whether he should feel good about it?
He looked at the cashier in front him. She looked younger than him. He was getting to that age now that the cashiers at the Healthy Foods
grocery store
were now looking young and younger. Although they were mostly the same 18-21 year old college students the grocery store hired. It was just that he was becoming older.
She was still giving him that sideways smile that complimented the inside joke she had thrown out there. "...it's really easy. You could just get it over with right now."
