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She was a cashier today. The beginning of the day was pretty calm; not many people went grocery shopping at 8 in the morning on a Tuesday.
She had about four customers before a long pause. Then the unexpected happened.
Whenever she greeted a customer she usually glanced at them while saying, "Good morning, did you find everything you needed?" But this time she didn't glance up. She typed in her code and began scanning the items.
She heard a mumble and noticed the three packs of red bull she had already scanned and the four bags of Cheetos that were on the conveyor belt, that's what made her look up.
Her eyes fell on a man wearing a black hood rummaging through the pocket of his hoodie. He took out a handful of things and placed them down before pulling out a roll of money wrapped with a rubber band.
As she scanned the remaining items-consisting of junk food such as Twinkies, cupcakes, and cookies-she looked at the pile of things he had set down. The first thing was a box of cigarettes followed by some coins, a lighter, and scraps.
"Your total is 54.39," she said.
The man pulled out three twenties and handed them to her looking up at her for the first time. She looked at his shaky hand covered by bruised cuts that appeared to have been done that day. As she took the money she looked up at his face and noticed who it was.
The man from two days ago.
His face was scratched up like his hands. All Sadie could think was, it wasn't like that the other day.
As she got his change she said, "Cigarettes, red bull, and hot Cheetos aren't a good combination."
It slipped out of her and she instantly regretted saying it. He groaned and mumbled something incoherent under his breath. Then he grabbed everything he had placed down and shoved it back in his pocket.
"Sorry... Your change is 5.61," she said placing a five dollar bill on his hand followed by the sixty-one cents.
"Your hand is shaking so much because you have too much caffeine in your system, you should drink a lot of water," she rapidly said, this time covering her mouth with her hand, "Sorry again..."
Sadie had the tendency to say more than she needed to. She never thought twice before speaking and her mind was full of information she needed to say.
Jim gave the man his bags and the man walked off.
Sadie thought to herself how strange the man was. Why could he be all cut up and bruised?
