The Convenience Store

There isn’t really anything to tell you other than I had a Ding Dong for breakfast. I went to the store on a quest for things that only a convenience store provides. I am quite fond of convenience stores because of their … umm … convenience.

And, I know most of the people that work there by name. If I don’t know their names, I do know obscure things about them.

There is the girl with the piercings who is in school and always has a T-shirt on that usually is honoring a speed metal band. I like her and we always talk about tattoos and her latest class although I admit I don’t know her major. She is cute, although it would offend her if she knew I thought that. She doesn’t want to be seen as cute, instead she wants to appear edgy and dangerous, which she is neither although I will never say that. There have been times I’ve seen her looking out the window into the bright lights of the signs that sit outside the window, leaving the parking lot an obscure color of false light, with a look of things to come which she seeks. She told me once that she was on the dean’s list. She is shy, actually, and I try to listen without interrupting because I know these innerchanges are hard for her, but they have gotten easier the more she sees me.

There is the girl that looks corn-fed and is always smiling. She calls me by my name and asks if I’ve seen her cousin recently. I haven’t, but I usually smile. I bought a different brand of beer lately and she questioned me. I told her sometimes we just needed a change. She laughed before ringing me up that day. When I open the door to leave, she usually calls me by name yet again wishing me goodbye. Her smile is like the sun. She’s one of those people that has the ability of always seeming sincere.

He has a small gap in his teeth and ginger-colored hair. I’ve never seen him without a hat. I can tell he’s a bit moody and, when there is no one around, he will talk about having to drive 25 miles to go to work at the convenience store. I can tell he’s tired. He’s young and worn out but he’s working for something other than what he does today but it’s wearing on him. His pride and joy is a truck he bought slightly used two years ago. It’s always immaculate. He came to my car one day to rub Mabel behind her ears when he was feeling a bit playful one night. I could tell he just didn’t want to be alone in the last hour before his shift and that the night was filled with needing to talk to another human. He talked about his girlfriend and how he wants a weekend off so he can go fishing with his friends. I feel like he has some inner sorrow, but I never ask. He always calls me Ma’am which makes me cringe inside, but I never correct him. After the presidential election, he told me he didn’t vote because he didn’t want to argue with his father. I didn’t pursue that, but his eyes became foggy and distant with this confession.

There are times that I see these people more than I see my own family.  Convenient, yes. Part of my day-to-day life, that would also be a yes.

There is nothing wrong with knowing the people that inhabit your world.