A-B-C

I just went to the store to pick up some apple cider.  That stuff is just too good.  As I was checking out, one of the checkers asked me when I start school again. 

In a haze, I forgot what day it was.  But it wasn't going to do me any good to remember when this lady kept shouting "Tuesday!  It's Tuesday!" in the next lane.  I looked over to see a woman about my height, probably in her late 30s and blonde as she unloaded her basket with a few groceries.  While she kept shouting at me, I shook myself out of my confused state and wanted to tell this crazy lady today is Monday, but just looked at her and went, "What?"

"ICC starts school on Tuesday."

"Oh, well, I go to Bradley," I said in a moment of clarity.  "And we start school on the 21st."

I hate saying where I go to school.  Everybody here assumes that college-age kids go to ICC first, probably also assuming they'll fail or drop out and work at a place like the grocery store the rest of their lives.  I'm not saying people don't have a right to earn a living, I'm just saying grocery store manager isn't something I still want to be doing when I graduate.

By not going to ICC, I hopefully made this lady feel like an idiot for rudely interrupting my conversation. 

On the other hand, what usually happens when saying you go to Bradley is that people act like you had to outlast some sort of battle royal to get into the school. 

"Oh, you go to Bradley!"

"No, I go to Bradley," I say.

Luckily for me she shut up and paid for her items, leaving me to wonder why she was so belligerent in telling me when ICC starts school.  Maybe she has kids of her own that she wants out of the house.  Or maybe she's one of those parents that lives vicariously through her kids, knowing every single appointment they need to meet and weird facts about them. 

The soft side of me thinks she was just trying to helpful in my seemingly confused state of mind.  Things might've been clearer if this lady wasn't shouting at me in the first place. 

If she wanted to help me, she would've shouted, "It's Thursday!  Thursday the 21st!"