It’s 5:55 pm, New Year’s Day, just before closing time.
Lane 1
Janie’s face periodically twitches as she scans the merchandise. She isn’t moving particularly fast, and then the phone next to her register rings. She picks up the receiver while she totals up the bill.
“Yes ma’am. We close at 6:00,” she says and hangs up the phone.
“Well they’ll have to get here quickly,” I mumble in a lame attempt at humor.
She doesn’t hear me.
Lane 2
Crystal opens up a register, because Janie’s line is getting very long. A woman checking out in Janie’s line leaves her husband with half their merchandise and takes the rest over to Crystal while the rest of us watch.
She has coupons. 50% off coupons. The kind of coupons that bring people here.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Crystal says to the woman. “You can only use one coupon.”
The woman stares at her briefly and then looks down at the four coupons in her hands (and actually collects a fifth from her husband). And she looks over at the boxes of candles she’s buying and then up at Crystal.
“Well, can I ring them up on separate orders?” she asks.
“…Sure.”
At The Door
As we leave the store, Sam is pushing in a cart filled with dried flowers. He’s half-way thru the doors, but a woman has stopped him to ask something—a question about the cart or the store or maybe the dried flowers.
“Whatever you like, ma’am…” he says, looking up at us.
She walks past him into the store.
“…I just want to get this stuff put away so that I can go home.”