The Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) that I shop at has an air lock for entering and exiting the store. So you have two door from the outside into the air lock and two doors from the air lock into the store. Likewise, there are two doors exiting the store into the air lock and two door exiting from the air lock to the outside.

I call the one set of doors, exiting the store, “the gum ball door”. I call it the gum ball door because there are a series of gum ball machines between the inner and outer doors. And, these gum ball machines attract mothers with children. Or, I should say, children with mothers.

The problem is that there isn’t enough room. So when these children, with their mothers, stop at the gum ball machines, they block the path between the inner and outer doors.

Now, normally this isn’t a problem for me since I try to avoid using the gum ball door. But the other day, the other exit door was blocked by someone who had set off the security alarm. So, I used the gum ball door. And sure enough, the cart in front of me stopped for the gum ball machines.

I was trapped. But, I kept my wits about me and quickly veered off towards the other exit door. And before those kids could even drop their quarters, I was in the parking lot.

Timing is everything.