Angela stared at the car with a blank expression on her face. She tried to remember what she written down: eggs, milk, laundry detergent...? Dammit! For the first time in months she had written a shopping list and she had left it sitting on the counter next to her cell phone. She couldn't even call her son and ask him to list items off to her.
Her blank expression of concentration turned to one of anger. Angela had made the list as an earnest attempt at budgeting. Every time she went to the grocery store she ended up overspending her budget because she didn't have set plan and just bought whatever sounded tasty - ice cream, pickles, peanut butter, and of course whatever she thought she needed.
Angela took a deep breath and stared at her reflection in her car's window. She had bags under her eyes and her roots were starting to show, but right now she couldn't afford to buy hair dye; making sure her son had something good to eat was more important.
Angela tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and resolutely walked away from the car towards the store. Her heels clacked over the asphalt as she walked and thought about the money in her purse and how far she could make it stretch and if she could remember what she needed.
"Damn the list," she said softly, "I can do this." The store doors hissed open softly and Angela walked in.