The Feather Duster

Sam wandered away from Robert a little, sure that neither of them could get in too much trouble just shopping for groceries. Besides, it tended to go faster if Sam let Robert push the cart and he ran around gathering things up. Robert said it was just that Sam had too much energy, but Sam didn't care. Whatever got them out of the store and back home fast was okay by him.

Home was for naked. Stores were for rushing through.

He headed down the aisle, looking for dish soap and laundry detergent, and grabbed what was on sale. He had no idea if they needed sponges for the kitchen or not, but he figured they could never have too many sponges, really. He was just grabbing a package of three when he saw the gray ostrich feather duster. On a whim, he grabbed that too and headed back to Robert and the cart.

"What's next?" he asked, dumping his prizes into the cart on top of the vegetables he'd made them get.

Robert picked up the duster and raised an eyebrow at him before putting it back in the cart. "Steaks. Hamburger meat. And chips. And not those low-fat baked things either. I'm a big boy, Sammy; I don't need to watch what I'm eating."

"You say that now, but in twenty years your heart will thank me. Oh, we should get some chicken breasts, too." Sam knew full well that they'd leave with the right kind of chips; the ones Robert liked were the only kind they ever bought, unless Sam was trying to wind him up for some reason. "Neat duster, huh?"

Robert grinned at him. "When was the last time either of us dusted?"

"About three minutes before the guys from the station came by to watch the game. Or just before my dad arrived, one of those." Sam grinned and bounced his way to the meat counter, aiming for the lean ground beef rather than the regular. "It's not for dusting, man."

Picking up the duster, Robert looked at it, looked back at him. "A fancy hat for Halloween?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Come on, what did you do with feathers when you were a kid? You stuck 'em on all kinds of things, right? Feathers are just plain fun. Plus, ostrich feathers are soft."

"I played cowboys and Indians with feathers." Robert added a stack of steaks to the cart and turned them toward the check out.

"This does not shock me." It really didn't. "Wanna go home and play cowboy? I'll be the cowboy, you be the horse." Sam grinned as a man near them dropped his cans of tuna on the floor.

Robert laughed. "God, you're insatiable."