The Banana Lady

Yesterday evening, I was at Trader Joe’s with Miss Healthypants and our dear friend, Liane. We had just finished having dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant and since Trader Joe’s was close by, we had to go there.

As we were in the produce section, Liane noticed this elderly woman who was spending an inordinate amount of time going through the bananas. There were three boxes of bananas and this woman would pick up a small bunch, examine them, and then place them very neatly in another box.

We stood there for a good while watching her do this. After she had examined all the bananas and neatly arranged them, we thought she’d walk away, but no – she started over again.

Liane wanted to make a banana purchase but this woman was keeping them all very occupied.

Frankly, I wanted to know what would happen if this woman’s banana-routine would be upset.

“I’m going in!” I said to Liane.

So, I stood next to the woman and began tossing bananas from one box to another, clearly upsetting her routine. She would then arrange my tossed-about fruits ever so neatly in another box and I would plop some more bananas directly athwart hers.

It was fun.

Finally, I gave up and Liane got her bananas. As we walked to the registers, the woman was still very occupied with the three boxes of bananas.

I mentioned to the cashier that there was this strange woman who seemed obsessed with the bananas.

“Oh, that’s the banana-lady!” she replied.

It turns out that this banana-lady comes in quite frequently, spends a great deal of time selecting just the “right” bananas, and then sells them on a street corner nearby.

Don’t you just love it?

If I had had my camera with me, I would have taken a video of The Banana Lady in action for you to see.

Now, I’m determined to get a video of her. I plan on going to Trader Joe’s a lot more often just so I can get that video.

The cashiers at Trader Joe’s will probably start referring to me as “The Banana Lady-Obsessed Guy.”