I was in Target the other day, just there to pick up some stuff before leaving "America" and heading back to one of my two islands.

My back was to the door as I took my motorcycle gear out of the cart, put it on, and then retrieved my purchases. I heard a mother behind me.

"Damn it, you stop that crying right now. I'm here because we're buying YOU some toys. You better shut up or I'm gonna . . . [no threat completed] . . . Shut up or else! You better . . . " Her voice was angry, as if the kid had probably intentionally defied her.

I turned around. Shit.

Mom was not young, maybe late 20s or early 30s. She was really thin and bottle blond, with a BlueTooth thingy in her ear. Her face was drawn and tired. She looked "rode hard and put away wet" as some folks around here say. But the kicker?

The kid was MAYBE a year and a half old. Old enough to be sitting up, wearing cute shortie overalls and a tshirt. Probably old enough to have a small vocabulary. Definitely not old enough for preschool. Old enough to know experiential cause and effect, but nowhere near old enough to equate "we're here for toys" with "stop crying because I'm doing something special for you".

Appalling. I wanted to scream, "this isn't about you, lady; what if your kid's in pain? What if he's scared? Have you considered that a kid this young is probably NOT crying just to piss you off?!" But I didn't. I just left the store, accepting that this kind of thing happens and I am powerless to stop it.