It was time to give up. Admit defeat. Accept the desolation. The whole thing was futile. Life was futile.

It was just another thing, on top of everything else, that made him angry about this year. A year of pandemic, riots, protests, more Brexit, more Trump, more Boris. Was it no wonder the country was going mad?

And now this. The humiliation of standing in the supermarket and staring at the last packet of toilet roll. Up on the top shelf. Right at the back. Out of his reach by two inches. Even on his tiptoes.

A masked shop worker appeared. She was taller than him, attractive with long blonde hair and healthy skin.

‘Excuse me?’ he said, his voice muffled.

She looked at him. He looked up at the toilet roll. She understood. She was sympathetic. They both rolled their eyes to say ‘panic buying idiots.’

She reached up and plucked the packet and handed it to him. She may have smiled, it was hard to tell with the mask covering her face. She turned and left him standing with the toilet roll before he could say thank you, or introduce himself, or… Forget it. She was too tall anyway.

He headed for the checkout. Yep, life was futile.

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This is my first time taking part in the Three Things Challenge, hosted over on Pensitivity101’s blog. Each prompt has three words to incorporate into a piece of writing. This week’s words are: FUTILE, MAD and TALL. Follow the link to see what other writers came up with.

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