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IF YOU DID NOT READ THE SUMMARY PLEASE GO BACK AND READ IT BEFORE CONTINUING. Thanks.


Chris walked through the sliding doors, shaking off the light dusting of snow from his jacket as he passed through the wall of wonderfully hot air blown from the heater above and sighed. Another shift in the awful red and khaki, smiling at the soccer moms and directing the same customers to the same aisles he’d shown them twenty times before. At least he was scheduled for the quiet department of groceries this week. Far away from both the noisy electronics and constant cleanup of toys. The Target gods must’ve felt pity for him and he certainly was grateful.

On his way back to the staff room he decided to take a quick pass by his department to see how deserted it was this afternoon. He quickly walked by the tall, fully stocked shelves, shadowed by his foggy reflection in the freezer doors lining the back wall. He grinned, continuing on to the staff room. Not even a snot nosed kid was there trying to sneak a sweet or two from the dispensers. He hung up his coat in his locker, saying a brief hello to his coworkers who were on their break. Chris knew what he was assigned to do this shift, but he paused at the staff chart reading it just in case he had been reassigned last minute. He let out a little sigh of relief as he saw that he was still set to the new grocery-only check out. With a real smile on his face, he walked out of the staff room, straightening his uniform polo shirt.

Chris was all but whistling as he reached his still quiet section. He was looking forward to this easy shift. Maybe he’d even grab a book from the entertainment department to help pass the time. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of a bright red cart down one of the aisles.

He slowed his walk down to a stroll, leaning forward to see if there was a customer or if this was just a stray cart he would need to return. He guessed it would be the latter as he hadn’t heard any footsteps or the typical one sided conversation of a multitasking customer on their cell phone. To his surprise he saw a man in a leather jacket and cowboy hat standing in front of one of the freezer doors, one hand gripping the cart and the other on the handle to the freezer as if he was about to open it. Chris waited at the end of the aisle for the man to open the door, but he didn’t. Was he looking for something in the wrong section? He took a step towards the man, to ask if he needed any help, taking a quick look to see what freezer section he was in. All Chris could make out were various sizes of ice cream cartons and the slightly irritated expression on the man’s face in the reflection. He thought he heard the man swear under his breath as he yanked open the door.

Sighing, Chris turned away, heading towards the cash register. “What was wrong with regular chocolate and vanilla, ‘Ro?” He heard the man mutter, followed by the metallic ringing of items being dropped in the cart and few muffled curses.

It was almost possible for Chris to forget where he was, staring out of sliding glass doors. If it wasn’t for the background noise of screaming kids, customer chatter and other store noises he could spend his entire shift zoned out.

“Hey kid,” a voice called, snapping Chris out of his thoughts. He turned to see the man from before staring at him.

He blinked a few times, before forcing the fake smile on his face, turning towards the cash register. “Good afternoon, sir, did you find…” Chris glanced down at the belt and saw a pile of Ben and Jerry’s containers.

“Just ring it and bag it kid, I got things ta do.” Chris nodded and started swiping the items across the scanner as fast as he could. He tried to keep his gaze on his hands, but he couldn’t help but take a glance between the remaining ice cream and the customer who noticed, much to his embarrassment. “You got somethin’ ta say?”

“No, sir,” Chris replied immediately. “Awful lot of ice cream,” He mumbled to himself as he started bagging it all up.

“Yer tellin’ me,” the man muttered.

Chris paused and almost looked back. He barely said that loud enough for his own ears to hear, how did… Chris shook his head and finished bagging.

The man paid, grabbed his bags and stalked out.

Chris returned the cart and shook his head again, laughing to himself, “No one’s ever going to believe me.”





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