Grocery stores now feature burger fixins at ten bucks a pound

The woman was tall and thin, taller than me, sitting in my Publix e-scooter (top speed 3 m.p.h.) She was dressed for fall -- the Florida afternoon temps hovered in the 70s for the first time. She contemplated the ground beef selection along the store's meat cooler. She grabbed a packet of lean ground beef, looked at it, exhaled loudly, and then handed it to me. "Hamburger -- $10 a pound?" 

I read the label: "Greenwise Lean Ground Beef," below that, a unit price of $9.99.

"Ten dollars a pound," I answered.

She looked at it once more, turned and moved along. 

"Expensive," I muttered to myself. I put it in my cart and begrudgingly added another. Twenty dollars of ground beef. Two nights of hamburgers, a third night for meat loaf with potatoes and carrots, maybe some leftovers for me and my wife. Cheaper than eating out. Last dinner for three at our favorite reasonably-priced Daytona bistro was just under $100. 

My grocery shopping bill was a bit over $300. Coupons and BOGOs saved me $107.45. I could have done without the fancy ice cream and cookies (or could I?). The food should last us ten days.

I am thankful. 

What could I have said to the outraged women at the meat counter? Who did you vote for? Who will you vote for? What kind of vehicle do you put $4.39 fuel into? Do you live alone in a house built for five? Do you gamble? Drink expensive wines? Take ocean cruises? 

What do you say in times such as these? I'm retired. It's expensive out there. We know some of the reasons why. That's why I'm voting for Democrats on Nov. 3. Grocery prices won't immediately drop, nor will gas prices. We still will have a greedy fat cat in the driver's seat for two more years. But we can pump the brakes.

Bulletin: I was ready to post this when news came over the wire that Trump is staging a rally tonight at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach. He is not welcome here. I wonder if I can find my fellow shopper, the woman I ran into in Publix, who was so outraged about $10 a pound ground beef. I could see her at the Ocean Center. She holds up the shiny package of ground beef and yells "HAMBURGER -- TEN DOLLARS A POUND!" The crowd boos Trump. Rides him out of town on a rail.