The Vanishing Blue Baskets

Though experiencing temporary technical difficulties, The Truthless Reconciler plows intrepedly on! THE WAL MART where i shop is small, sparse, quick, and easy, a good place to pick up a few groceries. The hand held blue baskets were a convenient alternative to push carts, which can become a problem in a congested isle. One day the blue hand held baskets were not there. They had disappeared, vanished. I walked around for a few minutes, gathered some groceries in my arms,then went to pay for them. I asked the cashier about the blue baskets, and she said she had no idea. A few days later i did the same thing, encountered the same associate, and asked the same question. This time she suggested the possibility that they had all been stolen. In retrospect, that seems perfectly sensible. A basket here, a basket there... but wouldn't somebody see someone walking out the door with one? I mean, they're not huge, but neither are they too small, and there is no reason for them to leave the store, and anyone carrying one out the door would be immediately suspect. Hearing this explanation, my irritation rose, and i began to smell a conspiracy, a cover up of some sort. I began to think that maybe some corporate decision had been made, for some reason, doubtless profit oriented. Get rid of the small baskets, make 'em use full sized carts, they'll buy more. Something like that. the tought alwo entered my mind that alien entities from other dimension might be involved, and i articulated this to the cashier. She seemed skeptical, or confused. But, in america, the more unlikely and incredible the story, the bettter it sells. For now, I'm sticking with the corporate boardroom intrigue, augmented perhaps by a good healthy dose of aliens and conspiracies.