Extending Our Hearts

VI. Post Apocalypse

Extending Our Hearts

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TIPPY'S IS empty I notice as I step foot into the entrance hall. By empty I mean not one person in sight, there aren't any customers lingering around the aisles neither employees by the registers.

The noiselessness of a the large supermarket with a faraway jingle playing in the background lets a shiver go up my arm. 

It's quiet.

Too quiet.

Post apocalypse quiet.

I take a few slow steps forward and relax when I hear a muffled voice coming from somewhere.

So I'm not alone.

The muffled voice slowly becoming more clear as I walk further in and come face to face with a middle aged woman with a short bob shoulders walk out of a door with an employees only sign on it.

Upon noticing me looking at her she grins widely in my direction, "Welcome to Tippy's! Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Uh no, I know where to go," I say as I point to the same aisle the spices were put up in.

When I'd entered a few days ago, I noticed the soy sauce near the end of the shelf by the spices.

My reply seems to have pleased her as she nods in response and walks over to the register a few feet away leaving me to tend for myself. I notice her tap her ear and realise she'd been speaking to someone via her bluetooth earpiece. 

 My eyes scan the aisles while my footsteps echo through the empty rows and catch no sight of neither her or any other employee.

I stop once in front of the different brands of soy sauce and look for Nonna's favourite. The familiar glass Kikkoman's bottle catches my eye and I reach for it after making sure I have enough cash with me.

My feet tap lightly on the ground whilst I make my way to the cashier.

"It's rather quiet today isn't it?" The woman smiles at me with a gleam in her eye as I hand her the bottle.

I nod, "It is, usually it's quite busy that I'm finding this unsettling."

She laughs, "I'm Mary, the manager here. I'd sent my workers out for a course on better service but now I have to do their work for today, that's why it's so quiet."

"That's nice," I mumble.

I see her passing the barcode under the scanner multiple times before she sighs, "Sorry, they changed the machines and some of them seem to have delays or don't work at all."

"Aha!" She exclaims, "Let's hope this one works."

Her sudden burst causes me to flinch a little as she turns around to grab the scanner from the other counter.

A loud beep comes from the machine before she squints and looks at the screen, "Alright, that'll be six seventy-two."

I hand her the ten dollar bill and she opens the register to hand me my change.

"Thank you for visiting Tippy's," she says after handing me the leftover amount and I head out the exit into the soaring hot parking lot.