Thursday, July 12, 2018 8:15 AM

We've all taken numbers to wait our turn at the pharmacy. We shouldn't have to stand in line, but there's no place to sit down. The numbers advance glacially toward mine. On the TV screens, next to them, news headlines scroll past, but they're too small and moving too quickly for me to read. When my number is called, the pharmacist scans my card. All my medications are in stock. He doesn't need to count out pills. Everything is in cardboard boxes of set numbers of blister packs, kept in a large wall of drawers behind the counter, alphabetized in English. They aren't free, but are relatively cheap. I pile the three-month supplies of everything into a plastic bag and head off to continue shopping.