onto the gravel parking lot, which didn’t look like it could accommodate more than five cars at a time. As he began kicking the larger rocks, Sammy wondered if Gus, the grumpy old man who owned and operated the store, would get a visitor today. He hadn’t had a single one yesterday. The day before either. How did he stay in business with no customers? Maybe Gus was rich and didn’t need the money. Maybe he had bought the store only because he had gotten tired of being at home all day and wanted someplace new to hang out. Maybe—
Sammy frowned as an unfamiliar noise broke through his random thoughts.
Yee-yee-yee-yee-yee!
Cocking his head, he listened so intently he feared his eardrums might burst from the exertion.
YEE-YEE-YEE-YEE-YEE!
Scooter, Sammy thought, right before it shot off the asphalt road and into the parking lot, rocketing straight toward him. He shrieked and sprang backwards seconds before it fishtailed to a stop in the exact spot he’d just been standing. “Fleas on mice!” he gasped, looking up from the dirt on top of his boots to the driver.
His chin hit the dirt.
A newbie!
Sammy’s heartbeat quickened as the girl climbed off the scooter. “Hi!”
Without a word or a glance she stormed off, the long waves of her caramel-colored hair bouncing and glittering in the bright sunshine. She charged the door like she was going to go through it without opening it first. As she reached for the doorknob the missing person flier taped to the 2’ x 2’ window in the door caught her attention, making her catch air instead of the brass handle. She stumbled forward with a harsh intake of breath followed by a few colorful words that would have made Sammy blush if he were capable of doing so. The cow bell above the door clunked as she yanked it open and then bolted inside.
Sammy’s heart felt like a machine gun going off in his chest. The first new face in over a year, a rare opportunity to present himself as something other than a science experiment gone awry, and the best he could do was say “Hi” and then just stand there staring at her like a dirty old man peering through a gap in the curtains of a teenage girl’s bedroom.
He was going to blow it. Again.
Cupping his hands around his eyes, Sammy pressed his face against the slightly larger window beside the door. When he spotted the girl looking at the cat food, a seed of hope was planted inside him.
She has a pet. That means she likes animals. If she likes animals, she has to be nice. Mean people don’t like anything, especially not animals!
So what if it hadn’t been the best first impression? He hadn’t thrown up like the last time (the victim’s scrunched up expression of revulsion had reminded him of a Shar-Pei puppy) so it was miles away from being the worst.
Sammy brought his hand up to his chin. He had to think of something to say. Something original. Something cool. Something witty.
He cleared his throat. “Heeeeeeeeeey!”
No, no—too Fonzie-ish.
“You come here often?” he asked the window with a toothy grin.
Definitely not—sounds too much like a pick-up line that will probably result in a can of cat food being shoved up my nostril.
“Greetings and salutations!” he said, raising an eyebrow. Wasn’t that what the cool guy said in the movie with all those chicks named Heather? But then again, if she’d also seen the movie she’d know the cool guy turned out to be a psycho at the end.
“Better not go there,” he murmured as the girl moved to the checkout.
The seed of hope became a ten ton boulder of flames in the pit of Sammy’s stomach. A sharp pain signaled the start of its quick, burning descent through his intestines and into his bowels. Horror filled him as he backed away from the window with his skinny white ass cheeks clenched so tight he could have cracked a walnut, stopping only when the scooter prevented him from any further movement.
Oh no...I’m about to do something worse than
Sammy frowned as an unfamiliar noise broke through his random thoughts.
Yee-yee-yee-yee-yee!
Cocking his head, he listened so intently he feared his eardrums might burst from the exertion.
YEE-YEE-YEE-YEE-YEE!
Scooter, Sammy thought, right before it shot off the asphalt road and into the parking lot, rocketing straight toward him. He shrieked and sprang backwards seconds before it fishtailed to a stop in the exact spot he’d just been standing. “Fleas on mice!” he gasped, looking up from the dirt on top of his boots to the driver.
His chin hit the dirt.
A newbie!
Sammy’s heartbeat quickened as the girl climbed off the scooter. “Hi!”
Without a word or a glance she stormed off, the long waves of her caramel-colored hair bouncing and glittering in the bright sunshine. She charged the door like she was going to go through it without opening it first. As she reached for the doorknob the missing person flier taped to the 2’ x 2’ window in the door caught her attention, making her catch air instead of the brass handle. She stumbled forward with a harsh intake of breath followed by a few colorful words that would have made Sammy blush if he were capable of doing so. The cow bell above the door clunked as she yanked it open and then bolted inside.
Sammy’s heart felt like a machine gun going off in his chest. The first new face in over a year, a rare opportunity to present himself as something other than a science experiment gone awry, and the best he could do was say “Hi” and then just stand there staring at her like a dirty old man peering through a gap in the curtains of a teenage girl’s bedroom.
He was going to blow it. Again.
Cupping his hands around his eyes, Sammy pressed his face against the slightly larger window beside the door. When he spotted the girl looking at the cat food, a seed of hope was planted inside him.
She has a pet. That means she likes animals. If she likes animals, she has to be nice. Mean people don’t like anything, especially not animals!
So what if it hadn’t been the best first impression? He hadn’t thrown up like the last time (the victim’s scrunched up expression of revulsion had reminded him of a Shar-Pei puppy) so it was miles away from being the worst.
Sammy brought his hand up to his chin. He had to think of something to say. Something original. Something cool. Something witty.
He cleared his throat. “Heeeeeeeeeey!”
No, no—too Fonzie-ish.
“You come here often?” he asked the window with a toothy grin.
Definitely not—sounds too much like a pick-up line that will probably result in a can of cat food being shoved up my nostril.
“Greetings and salutations!” he said, raising an eyebrow. Wasn’t that what the cool guy said in the movie with all those chicks named Heather? But then again, if she’d also seen the movie she’d know the cool guy turned out to be a psycho at the end.
“Better not go there,” he murmured as the girl moved to the checkout.
The seed of hope became a ten ton boulder of flames in the pit of Sammy’s stomach. A sharp pain signaled the start of its quick, burning descent through his intestines and into his bowels. Horror filled him as he backed away from the window with his skinny white ass cheeks clenched so tight he could have cracked a walnut, stopping only when the scooter prevented him from any further movement.
Oh no...I’m about to do something worse than
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