The Endowed (Book 1): Mind Talkers

The Boy That Left

Journal entry:

20th July 1992

“Ah come on man, you know we’ll pay the rest tomorrow. We come here all the time. Besides, it’s just a few cents anyway, you know?” I said with a convincing tone and puppy dog eyes to Bob the clerk behind the counter of the corner store. John, Angelo, Christian, and Abel stood around and next to me.

“No, Lev! No more favours! Every time you guys come around, I’m missing cash! The boss will kill me if I’m short changed again,” he replied sternly. We’d been going back and forth for about five minutes. He wasn’t going to budge. He never did, until I made him.

I looked at him a second, and gave in by nodding. I turned to the others, “All righty boys, let’s let it go,” and we dropped our drinks and snacks on the counter. All of them had looks of embarrassment. Looking to Bob again, he seemed proud of himself, so I stuck out my hand and said gravely, “Thanks Bob, see ya tomorrow.”

“Gotta understand man, this is my job. Can’t lose this one too,” he said as he reached out to shake my hand. The dumb ass fell for it every time. As our hands connected, I heard this particular thought pattern of his whispering and repeating in my head, “Store policy. Can’t pay? Gotta be on your way.”

I could hear my inner self burst into tearful laughter. Always so hilarious to hear how people convince themselves of their own crap, and me coming along to alter it ever so slightly. Bob was always such an easy target. My mind projected a counter thought back to replace his, “But they’re loyal customers. Can’t I give them a break? Loyal customers always come back.”

A simple question, thought or idea can change the way anyone thinks. Implanting that idea always gave me such pleasure. “You know what guys? You come here all the time,” and he gently pushed our snacks forward to us, and continued, “Take them, and pay me tomorrow,” and he gave us a proud smile.  

“You see?! I told you guys he’s the shit!” chanted John next to me, pointing at Bob and looking around at the rest of us. Bob stood proud and nodded as the choir of our voices thanking him circled the store. 

Stepping outside, we walked around the corner, and broke out into hysterics at Bob’s expense, “That poor bastard. He’s gonna be fired again!” exclaimed Angelo. “Dude, you’re the man,” he finished as he turned to me. I could feel my cocky smile broadening as I opened my pack of crisps.

“Yeah I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy. Maybe we should lay off him a little,” said John dampening the moment. He was probably right, but it was way too entertaining.

“Fuck that. He’s a cashier at a corner store. Why would we give a damn,” I countered as I noticed his eyes on me. It was the first time I noticed guilt in him. Maybe it was time to use this glorious ‘Pattern Changer’ on him. I liked calling it that. He would hate, and probably fuck me up, if he found out, but it would be for his own good. We couldn’t afford weak links in this group. Imagine, the biggest member of a group of undercover thieves being a pussy. The thought didn’t sit well with me. Not that you can call what we do stealing, when people actually gave us what we want.

“I’m just saying Lev.” John replied, “Maybe we should try somewhere else. Cameras are being installed in there. I noticed the brackets were just setup.” A valid point; and a good cover for everyone else for his guilt. It didn’t fool me, though I felt that it was good enough reason to change our ‘supply’ store. Everyone around nodded in understanding of his view as we were all munching loudly on our snacks. 

Eventually, Christian piped up with his mouth full, “So, do we have a plan for tomorrow’s run? Tonight’s was pretty easy. A grand is pretty hefty though. Even for us.”