Wakefield

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  “In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story, told as truth, of a man—let us call him Wakefield—who absented himself for a long time from his wife. The fact, thus abstractedly stated, is not very uncommon, nor, without a proper distinction of circumstances, to be condemned either as naughty or nonsensical. Howbeit, this, though far from the most aggravated, is perhaps the strangest instance on record of marital delinquency, and, moreover, as remarkable a freak as may be found in the whole list of human oddities. The wedded couple lived in London. The man, under pretense of going a journey, took lodgings in the next street to his own house, and there, unheard of by his wife or friends and without the shadow of a reason for such self-banishment, dwelt upward of twenty years. During that period he beheld his home every day, and frequently the forlorn Mrs. Wakefield. And after so great a gap in his matrimonial felicity—when his death was reckoned certain, his estate settled...

Hurricane Prep, Day 3 "Two Cases, No Exceptions"

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Decided to make a couple stops on the way to the house last evening, one stop being at a smaller local grocery store. Signs taped on the door said "Two cases of water per customer. No Exceptions."

I took that to be a good sign that water was available, so though I already have a water plan in place, thought I should take advantage of the opportunity. I grabbed the last basket and we made our way in.

Boy was the place busy.

Not far from the registers were pallets of gallon-size bottles with a sign "2 for $1.39." Noted. $1.39, huh? For a case?

as of 6:00 a.m. today, by Intellicast
Made our way to the back of the store and found one pallet with a couple cases of water left, six gallons per case. I lifted a case into our basket and left the other for someone else.

Finishing our shopping, we were behind another fellow who (among other things) had an identical case of water. The store manager standing nearby saw our cases and came over, "you can only have two" and he pointed to the gallon size water bottles behind him.

Together, the fellow in front and I pointed out that we only had one--case. We did not want to buy two bottles but wanted to buy one case though two were allowed. "No Exceptions."

Something was not right and as I started to think, the manager shook his head. "You can't have a case. You can only have two bottles."

"The signs on the door and the sign behind that register," I pointed out," says 'Two cases of water per customer. No Exceptions.'" It was coming to me . . .

With a heavy sigh, the manager shrugged and told the cashier "just let these cases go. No more after this. Bottles only," and he walked away.

Leaving the store, I couldn't help but notice the signs that read, "Two cases of water per customer. No Exceptions" remained taped to the doors.

Then it hit me: "Two cases of water per customer. No Exceptions"

Maybe I should go back for the other case owed to me as ONE case seemed to be an exception . . .

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