This morning, while riding the train, I found myself surrounded by people shopping on Amazon.

Not talking. Not reading. Not scrolling aimlessly through Instagram pretending to be interested in someone’s vacation.

Shopping.

Amazon Prime Deal Days had apparently turned the train into a mobile shopping mall.

I started noticing what people were buying.

Boots.

Clutches.

Shampoo.

And I thought that I could learn a lot about my fellow travelers by what they buy on Amazon.

The woman across from me is buying boots. Practical? Fashionable? Running from something? Who knows.

Someone else is shopping for a clutch. Clearly has somewhere to go. Or is simply preparing for the possibility of being invited somewhere, which, frankly, is increasingly aspirational.

Shampoo tells me absolutely nothing except that someone’s hair apparently needs washing.

And then there was me.

I was shopping for cookware, disinfectant wipes and high heels.

Make of that what you will.

Perhaps I am preparing to cook a fabulous meal, disinfect the evidence and then put on heels to accept my award.

Or perhaps I am simply a woman of many contradictions.

Amazon Deal Days may be a sale, but perhaps it is also a tiny psychological profile delivered directly to your phone.

We reveal ourselves in our carts.

The boots.

The shampoo.

The cookware.

The disinfectant wipes.

The high heels.

And somewhere, Amazon is quietly thinking:

“We have questions.”