“Take what you need,” I told her. “And if anyone asks you to explain your life in public, you tell them no.”
The mom swallowed hard.
Her fingers finally closed around the diapers.
And then—like the spell broke—another person stepped forward and placed a box of wipes on the table.
An older man in a work jacket set down a can of formula.
A teen in a hoodie dropped off baby food without looking at anyone.
The shelf refilled itself in real time.
The live-stream woman’s face tightened as the moment slipped away from her control.
“This is ridiculous,” she snapped, and walked out, still filming, still hungry.
A man near the carts scoffed. “You’re all suckers,” he said.
I looked at him.
He looked away first.
The cashier kid approached me, eyes wide. “Sir,” he whispered, “Dan wants to see you. Now.”
I found Dan near the customer service desk, face pale.
He pulled me aside like we were conspiring.
“You see what I mean?” he said. “This is escalating.”
“I saw,” I said.
Dan rubbed his forehead. “Corporate is making me fill out incident reports,” he said. “People are threatening boycotts. People are threatening… other things.”
“Over diapers,” I said, disbelief thick in my throat.