A la Cart

by Hillary Carlip

A comic original in the tradition of Tracey Ullman and Lily Tomlin-with Cindy Sherman's eye- Hillary Carlip creates America's most unforgettable grocery shoppers. It's happened to all of us-we find, tucked away in the corner of our shopping cart, someone's discarded grocery list. It first happened to Hillary Carlip when she was a teenager, and she's been wondering to whom the lists belonged ever since. Who's the person buying "Leche, Panpers, and Chanpu"? Or "Whole milk, heavy cream, Ice cream, cheese, and Gas-Ex (!!!)"? Why would someone need to write down "Coors and Oreos" on a matchbook cover-couldn't he just remember those two items? And what's the person like who scrawled their list on a PROZAC notepad? Taking her clues from the items listed, the types of paper written on, the handwriting, and even misspellings ("Aunt Spray"), Hillary saw that each list-at once mundane and personal-offered an intimate peek into a complete stranger's life. She picked twenty-six lists and imagined w