BUSTED at Safeway

The other night we went grocery shopping at Safeway. While some of the band was cooking dinner, Steve, Ravi, and anne decided to have shopping cart races. We walked over to the line of carts, each one of us carefully selecting our race vehicle. Is the alignment good? Do the wheels turn freely? Is it smooth? After we picked out our carts, we walked up to the top of the hilly parking lot. Ravi filled us in on the rules: essentially run as fast as you can up to that black line, then jump on and let it ride! The one who gets to the end of the parking lot first wins. You can put your feet down to steer but no extra running after the black line. The three of us line up to take a test run. Ravi counts off the start "one, two, THREE!" All of us take off running and jump onto the cart. We fly past iRVin, past the three cars in the lot, all the way to the end. It was a tie between Ravi and anne, although anne could have possibly been cited for cheating -- it was questionable whether she put her feet down to steer or to get a little extra speed. We walked back up to the top of the lot for the real race. We line up, catch our breath, and Ravi counts it off. "One...." We all crouch down. "Two...." Our arms tense. "THREE!!!" We start running as fast as we can. anne is dead last at the start but right before the black line she gives a hard push jumps on with just enough force to catch right up. All three of us are neck and neck. Steve's cart has a pesky alignment problem that starts taking him south. Ravi and anne are about to bump carts when Ravi slows down to give anne the lead. Steve straightens out and pushes again. All three are again neck and neck. As we get to the end of the parking lot, anne jumps down to steer and gives an extra push. Ravi tries to catch up by bending down for aerodynamics but to no avail. Steve is right behind anne but his cart again turns to the left. The finish line closes in and yes! anne wins it!!! Ravi and Steve jump off their carts, turn around and start running back to the start line for another round. We look up and see a short little Safeway woman walking toward us like she is going to scold her three children. When she reaches us Steve says "Want to ride?" Ravi and anne stifle their chuckles. The air changes as she says stonefaced "Can I have those please?" We hand them over like little kids turning over their Halloween candy to their parents. To make up for our wrongdoing, Steve asks "Do you want us to bring them back up?" Her cold demeanor cracks and she says "No, I got it." The three of us head back to iRVin for dinner. We sure worked up an appetite.