/yesod

Tag: store

  • attention

    attention

    Working early at the store, music playing overhead while I stand at the counter and tap away at my computer.

    Preoccupied with personal gripes and past arguments—sifting through parental and paternal confrontations long past and never happened.

    My mind, in short, on other things.

    “Hey.”

    A hoarse whisper, loud, from someone standing in the open space to my left. I startle, thinking that one of the other tenants came in when I was preoccupied. 

    No one is there.

    I step out from behind the counter, into the space between the jewelry counter and the rest of the store... Listening.

    Nothing.

  • the end

    Crowded afternoon at the store, lots of activity and customers. 

    A guy gets my attention, excited to be buying the massive brass singing bowl we got from Tibet. I am excited for him as well, since it’s several thousand dollars. Not a bad way to end the day.

    I get cornered behind the counter by a difficult customer, raising hell over a minor issue. Her entitlement is almost impossible to satisfy or redirect. I’m especially irritated to be dealing with her while my ex-wife has stopped by with our daughter. 

    Last thing I needed, was her scrutiny when I am in my own place of safety and power.

    My wife and our daughter are behind the counter with me and it’s something of a relief when the customer finally leaves. Then my ex-wife exits as well. 

    And we close up for the evening, the golden light of early summer streaming in through the windows.

    Heading for home, my wife takes her car and our daughter rides with me in mine.

    The highway is busy and as we snake through downtown on the infamous S‑curve, a moving trailer in front of us begins shedding household items, sending the other cars spinning this way and than to avoid the appliances, boxes, and bookcases suddenly littering every lane.

    Chaos everywhere.

    I manage to dodge several obstacles, while narrowly avoiding a few vehicle pileups in adjoining lanes as well.

    I can, somehow, hear my wife shouting from her car behind us.

    Unable to maneuver any more, I drag the wheel hard to the right and lodge the car into the relative safety of the shoulder. In the rearview mirror I see a swarm of unsuspecting cars and trucks bearing down on us, so I tell my daughter to get out and we run for an gap in the side that opens onto small set of concrete stairs leading down to the street below the overpass.

    Suddenly a darkness descends over the city and from the black skies above, a deep and terrible voice rumbles forth...

    WOE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH
    THE DAY OF WRATH IS UPON YOU
    WOE TO THOSE WHO DO NOT SERVE THEIR LORD
    WOE TO THOSE WHO HAVE MADE THE EARTH THEIR GOD

    The voice rattles the windows in the buildings around us, it vibrates in my chest and molars. 

    I was not afraid but a deep sense of dread came over me and all hope left me.

  • robbery

    Armed men have taken over the store. I manage to get out before they lock the doors,  but I can’t just leave everyone else there I have to get back in. I have to try and do something, to stop whatever they have planned.

    I keep going from door-to-door, surprised at how easily they assume I’m one of them.

    But once I am back inside, the panic takes over. 

    I can’t do this. I can’t do any of this. 

    This is a difficult time.