Ed was shaking. With excitement, not cold. If he behaved well in Wal-Mart, which was full of christmas shoppers, he would get a cookie!! Attempting to control his trembling hands, the three year-old stuffed them in his pockets. When he felt fully under control he got out of his car-seat and his dad set him in the cart. Then they shoved off. Riding in a cart is harder than the average adult believes. In order to avoid the bruises on your rear end that most children “enjoy”, you must roll with the punches and anticipate the bumps.
Whoa buddy! Watch out for tha–
“Car!” Ed said.
Slamming on the “brakes” Ed’s Dad quickly came to a halt, right in front of a nice ford escape with its brake-lights on.
After several more of these stop-and-go situations they reached the Wal-Mart entrance and passed the Salvation Army Santa.
After entering through the door marked exit, Ed, and Ed’s Dad found themselves in an impossible predicament. Grocery shopping on Christmas Eve.
With plenty of “Excuse me”s and “Pardon me”s they made it to a clearing. And then they shopped.

After several hours of shopping (which should’ve only taken an hour and a half at most) they went on a secret mission for a last minute gift that Ed’s Dad’s Grandfather’s pet needed. A flea collar.
Racing to the back of the store Ed’s Dad broke every speed limit in Wal-Mart (a record not soon to be broken) and they made it to the dog section in the back in 33.52 seconds. (Another record not soon to be broken.) When they were there Ed’s Dad began searching for the flea collar. As he searched Ed spotted what his dad desired. The Slightly Radio-Active Flea Collar!!! (Whose subtitle read: Possibly lethal to small dogs. Great gift for you next door neighbor’s Chihuahua) Ed stood up in the cart and tried to make a commotion. Unfortunately, Ed’s Dad didn’t notice him and stormed of the aisle beyond frustration (which probably accounts for those strange words that Ed didn’t understand). After riding the bumpers of several respectable “enjoy-the-moment” people, Ed’s Dad made to the checkout aisle. Then Ed left the cart; his dad went on muttering words Ed didn’t know, and not paying any attention to Ed. Slipping through the crowd, Ed found his way back to the dog aisle. carefully placing his feet on the second shelf he stretched and reached for the Slightly Radio-Active Flea Collar!!! Upon retrieving his prize Ed, forgetting his precarious postion, held up the collar as though it were the WWF belt. Then after a very long fall (42” to be exact) he tasted plastic? He came up spitting kibble. When he looked around things didn’t look the same. It appeared as though he had spun around slightly and lost his way. The wayless Ed thought he would walk sideways (East and West, not crab-style) through the store until he could see the cash registers, then he would walk along until he found his dad hopefully gaining enough favor with the collar for two cookies. As Ed passed the toy aisle he saw a Nerf® sword. Needless to say, Ed left the aisle packing a little more fire-power. The next aisle he reached he saw was the halloween clearance aisle. The masks and costumes were scary but he had his sword close by. 3.2544449999999999999 seconds into the aisle the lights turned off. All of the sudden Ed was surrounded by evil spirits, goblins, orcs, princesses and little Jack Sparrow wannabes. (All of them glow in the dark for parents, that is the reason that Ed can see them, but I seriously digress and now the moment is practically ruined) Just when Ed thought things couldn’t get any worse he realized that leaving the cart might cost him his cookie!!! Fighting furiously he struck out at the costumes and ran through the aisle. Then, ten feet from the end of the aisle, Ed heard an awful screeching noise. It was deafening and it caused Ed to fall to the floor and cover his ears. Then it turned into a crackle and he heard a voice.
The voice cleared its throat.
“Sorry for the slight inconvenience folks, are power-lines were knocked out by a snowplow. Merry Christmas!”