Summary

“Shopping for One” by Anne Cassidy tells the story of Jean, who is queuing in the supermarket and overhears a conversation between two women in front of her, a blonde and a dark one. The dark woman discusses another woman and her boyfriend; she is bothered by having seen that woman at some family event. The blonde woman mostly nods to the dark one’s comments until she eventually points out that the boyfriend of the dark woman returned to her.

Apparently, the dark woman’s boyfriend has cheated on her, but subsequently came back and apologised. While overhearing this conversation, Jean thinks about her shopping bag, about the very few items she has bought which clearly indicate that she is single. She watches those around her, including the tw...