Shopping Cart Series: A Lonely Life Away From Home (Hardware & Lumber)

Thinking that he was undetected in the early morning hours, the lone Doody’s cart was sauntering around the near-empty lot when he was secretly photographed by reader, Stefanee Rivera.

After a full night quietly playing by himself behind the gates of the apartment building’s empty back lot, located on East 12 Street, between Avenue X and Avenue W — the cart was quietly contemplating his new life and enjoying the morning light.

He had lived his entire life in the confines of the Doody’s Hardware Store boundaries, but finally decided to make a break for it. By the end of his first day of freedom when the second picture was taken, it was clear that the cart was feeling homesick. It’s very likely that the building super yelled at him and told him to ‘get outta here’ — because he was slowly making his way back home to Doody’s at 2461 E 17 St.

When he gets back home to the home and hardware store, he’ll have a story to tell about life on the outside to those rebel shopping carts planning their getaway: Sometimes frolicking around a community hardware store, with others just like you, is better than a lonely life behind bars on the outside.