You Know My Dad Used To Work Here?

10 Post-Meridian

Three cars populated the far side of the parking lot, arriving within minutes of each other. They had considered carpooling before, but none of them could coordinate well enough to make it happen. The last shift was relieving themselves: five people, all of whom exchanged pleasantries with the midnight staff—pleasantries and nothing more.

Connor, Zo, and Stacy: the only three souls who occupied the convenience store. As they got settled for the night, they slipped into their opening routine. Zo took boxes from storage and started stocking the shelves. Her first order of business was to refill the peach rings, then the rest of the candy aisle, the chips, other snacks, drinks, frozen foods, and finally, everything inedible. Afterwards, she took her time breaking down the boxes and throwing them away. This usually kept her busy until about midnight. 

To Zo, convenience stores like the Stop-N-Shop were a gateway to infinite worlds. So many variations on the same basic item, yet no brand was like another. Brisk was just Arizona from another planet, and in a past life, Funions had once been Lays. Stacy had tried to explain before that there was no fun in it, that variety and competition stimulate the market, nothing more. Zo didn’t care. The point of stocking was not to bring reality into the task. It was the opposite, if anything.

11 Post-Meridian

“Zo, what are you doing?” Connor stood at the far end of the aisle, his forehead slick with sweat.

“Stocking, clearly, why?” she asked in return as she finished putting up sunflower seeds.

“I need your help out back. There’s something in the trash.”

“So go get the bat from the breakroom, I’m busy.” Zo stood up and walked to the storeroom. Connor closely followed.

“Come on Zo, it’ll be quick. Just stand out there with me while I move some boxes. I’ll buy you a slushee!” While Zo prided herself on being a woman of integrity, sadly she was a sucker for slushees. A long sigh preceded her acceptance. She followed Connor to the back, her arms crossed.

The night air did nothing to make her happier. Zo much preferred warmth to the apathetic cold. She always meant to buy iron supplements at the store, but it slipped her mind during grocery runs. The back door, propped open with a milk crate, was her anchor as she stood and watched Connor rip up boxes.

He worked at the chore quickly as he listened for the rodent. Small creatures had frightened him since he was a child. The video games he played often cast mice, squirrels, and other small furry things as fast, rabid monsters. Even into adulthood, Connor kept his apartment clean to ensure he attracted nothing but girls and always kept a bit of rat poison around.

Zo laughed six times at Connor’s three scares; once for the event, and once for the memory. After ten minutes of slow burn horror, he managed to discard all the boxes without seeing so much as a bushy tail. Zo’s claps echoed against the treeline as he approached the back door.

“Thank you,” he said, with more sarcasm than sincerity. Still, she knew he was eternally grateful. Zo claimed her mango-flavoured reward and went to stand around at the register.

12 Ante-Meridian

At the turn of every day, Stacy put four dollars into the register and took two bags of peach rings from the candy aisle.

“My dad used to love these things,” was all she ever told Zo and Connor. They never pried further, but Zo always made sure the peach rings were there for her to grab, and during lunch, Connor snuck four bucks into her wallet.

As Stacy chewed on one of the gummies, Zo stood on the other side of the counter.

“Do you ever take the bus downtown?” she wondered. 

“Yeah why?” Stacy asked between rings.

“Well, some friends wanna go to the museum Saturday, and on the rare occasion that I'm on the bus, I pray-"

"Same."

"That I…" Zo turned away and sneezed.

“That I’m going in the right direction. Cause I get lost easily, and then a fifteen-minute trip turns into an hour, and I’m in neighbourhoods I’ve never been to before, and I just-” Zo pulled out a map of bus and train routes.

“If I want to get from my house,” Zo pointed at two dark scribbles she had made on the map, “To here, what do I do? If you know.”

Stacy took her time explaining the bus schedule and her preferred routes. In the middle of her lesson, they heard glass shatter on the other side of the store.

“I’m okay!” Connor shouted. Neither of them moved. As Stacy finished her explanation, Zo looked at all the new details on the map.

“Okay great, there’s no way I’ll get stranded now. Thanks Stacy.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Zo lingered for a minute.

“So um… how's life?”

“Good.” Stacy crumbled the first bag of peach rings and threw it in the small trash bin under the register. Zo looked at the clock.

“Another two hours till lunch.”

“Yep.”

“What’re we gonna do until then?”

Stacy thought for a minute, then picked up a bag of candy by the register.

1 Ante-Meridian

Another gummy bear hit Zo in the face.

“You’re not locked in.”

“Stacy c’mon, hit me again.” She hit her again. The bear landed on her jaw.

“Zo, lock the hell in, I have to sweep!”

“Okay okay last one.” Stacy did a cross-up with the gummy bear, then flung it into the air. Zo made seven slight adjustments to her aim before leaping forward to catch the bear with her canines.

“C’mon, gimme that!” The two dapped up.

“Alright now clean all that up, I’ma wipe the windows,” Zo said, gesturing at all the gummy bears on the floor. Stacy sighed and picked up the broom.

At the register, Connor hummed the pop tune playing over the speakers. The breeze caught his attention as a customer came in. 

“Welcome sir!” Connor said a touch too loud. The guy turned down the first aisle without saying a word. It was a few minutes before he came to check out. Connor watched two $20 bills land on the counter.

“All this,” the customer gestured at the assortment of snacks and drinks under his arm, “and ten on pump five.” Connor looked outside at the parking lot, then back at the customer.

“This isn’t a gas station.”

“What?” The customer turned and looked at his car, which he had crookedly parked in the middle of the road.

“Oh. Sorry. Thought I was somewhere else.” He took the snacks he had picked out and left the store.

“Sir, your change!” Connor called, but he was already across the parking lot, stuffing gummy worms and peanuts into his pants.

“Whatever dude.” Connor took the money and put it in the register.

“Stacy, watch the front, I’m gonna use the bathroom.”

“Me and Zo are cleaning!”

“Oh, my bad. I’ll wait.” Another person came into the store, a teenager, maybe three years younger than Zo.

“Hi, how can I help you?” Connor asked at an appropriate volume.

“Do you guys sell coffee?” The kid’s eyes darted to the right and latched onto the instant coffee machine.

“Oh well, never mind. Sorry, I’m exhausted.”

“No worries.” Connor rang him up for a large cup of coffee, which had been loaded with cream and sugar.

“You should probably take a nap in your car if you need to. No one’ll bother you out here.”

“I’m only twenty minutes away from home. Thank you though.” Connor looked at the clock as the kid left and figured he might as well wait until lunch. As the hour turned, Zo taped a sign on the window that read:

on lunch

be back in 30 minutes

thank you :)

2 Ante-Meridian

They usually didn’t travel for lunch. It’s only a half-hour break, just enough for them to resynchronize for the rest of the night. Connor would be sleepy, but found energy in their conversation. Zo would be all over the place, and needed to stop and breathe for a moment. Stacy was just hungry.

“Did you guys watch Jeopardy today?” Zo asked as Connor cut their pizza.

“No Zo, we didn’t watch Jeopardy. You ask us every shift.”

“Yeah, because you guys always say you’re gonna watch it. So I have to see if you did or not.”

Stacy was chewing a mouthful of Fritos.

“We just say that to be polite,” she said between bites.

“Well, if you wanna be polite, you should watch an episode and tell me how you liked it.”

“Okay Zo,” Stacy said as she grabbed another handful of chips. Connor gave each of them two slices and left the remaining two in a plastic container.

“This has been a calm shift.” Connor grabbed a slice and started eating.

“Yeah,” Zo said. Something slow and jazzy played over the speakers as they ate in silence. Zo only had the appetite for one slice. She went to wash her hands, then came back and sprawled out beneath her co-workers. She often professed that the breakroom floor was the best place to nap. They took her at her word. Connor set the container in the fridge for later. Stacy took her time to finish all her food.

3 Ante-Meridian

Zo yawned as she stood at the register.

“The breakroom floor is so good for naps. You wouldn’t think so, but man…”

“You’re disgusting,” Stacy muttered as she restocked the candy displays in front of the counter.

“I’m well rested though. You act like the table is any better for sleeping,” Zo remarked.

“It’s more sanitary, I know that much. You are just so slobbish.”

“Don’t call me slobbish, you prick!” The two of them spent the next five minutes exchanging fire in the form of petty insults. Connor came from the breakroom carrying trash, his face scrunched with concern.

“Guys! Guys! What’s wrong?”

“Stacy called me a slob!”

“Zo called me a prick!”

“Now Zo, why would you call her a prick?” Connor asked with a fatherly tone.

“Because she is a goddamn prick!”

“Am not!”

“Am too!”

“Am! Not!”

“Amtoo! Amtoo! Amtoo!”

“Hey!” Connor shouted with some bass in his voice. Stacy and Zo turned to him, both heaving.

“This is ridiculous. You two are supposed to be friends, and you’re acting like children. Stacy, you know what you said was wrong. And Zo, you did not need to respond the way you did. You should hug and tell each other you’re sorry.”

Zo looked at Stacy. Stacy looked at Zo.

“Or what, you’ll ground us?” Stacy remarked.

“Yeah, him and what army?” Zo added. The two of them went about their business again, laughing and shaking their heads. Connor shrugged.

“Better than them screaming, I guess.”

4 Ante-Meridian

Connor spit a wad of gum into the trash.

"Just so you guys know, I won't be here tomorrow,” he said as he reached into the pack for another stick.

"Great, a shift for just the girls. That'll be fun!” Zo exclaimed. Stacy rolled her eyes.

"Last time it was just us, the break room caught on fire,” she remarked.

"Yeah, but we still enjoyed each other's company, right?” Zo was left in a tell-tale silence. The three of them sat there for a minute, idle as they found themselves without anything to do. Everything in the store was gleaming and full, as if it had never been touched to begin with.

Zo was shuffling through a handful of potential topics when Stacy turned and said, “You know my dad used to work here?” Connor and Zo turned to her.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yeah, for a few years when I was little. He would always come home smelling like disinfectant and pizza. He would let me wear his hat, you know, back when they used to have visors, and he always brought home those peach rings. This place was steady, and he liked that. I can see why.” Stacy stared at the rack in front of her. Connor and Zo were frozen with concern.

“Is that why you…” Zo ventured to ask.

“Yeah. It’s my way of staying close to him. I don’t know, I just, I’ve been thinking about him tonight. I think about him every night really, but… I don’t know.” Zo and Connor went up to Stacy and hugged her on either side.

“Thank you guys. Thank you,” she said as her tears soaked the sleeve of Connor’s uniform.

5 Ante-Meridian

Time rushed like water at this hour. Stacy went to the door and looked up to see the sky subtly slipping to a cerulean shade. One by one, the stars were switched off, and the night politely disappeared. She yawned, and her breath manifested on the glass. With a pale finger, she drew lines and circles until the parking lot smiled back at her. 

“Zo, where do you see me in ten years?” Connor asked as he tapped on the register. 

“Um, I don’t know. Hopefully, in a better apartment, your place is kinda dull.” Zo chuckled to herself, then thought to say, “Where do you see me?”

“Far away from here. You’re gonna go really far in life, dude. I meant it.” Zo smiled and patted Connor on the shoulder.

“Thanks man. Hopefully we’ll all get to blow this place some day.”

“Yeah…”

“What, you don’t think Stacy is gonna leave?”

“I don’t think I am, Zo.” Connor sighed, and she caught on to the tone of the conversation.

“I don’t think I’m going anywhere, you know? I think I’m just gonna, work here until I’m old. Or maybe I’ll own it one day. I’d like to own it,” he said.

“You’re not gonna be here forever. Working at a place like this, it’s a step everyone takes until they get to the next place. I’m only working here until college is over, then I’m gonna get a real job.” Zo replied.

“Yeah, but you have a future. You want to do something with yourself. I don’t have that.” Connor turned to face her. “It’s not sad. You don’t have to act like it’s sad. This is just all there is, and that’s okay.”

“Connor…” Her heartbeat was loud against the hum of the store.

“I’m okay Zo, c'mon.” Connor walked to the storeroom. He had work to do before their shift ended.

Already, the next few clerks were arriving, coming one by one to drink a bit of coffee before their shift began. They returned to their cars to get a few more minutes of rest and watched as their three predecessors became increasingly exhausted. 

Zo felt like time was at a standstill. The night might never end, and all there was to know were the six aisles of her jurisdiction. She tried to imagine Connor anywhere else, wearing anything else but their ugly orange uniform shirts. A convenience store was no one's destiny. She tried to picture him as a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, a programmer, even just a student, but all she could fathom was that bright shade of orange clinging to his chest, a perfect match for his frame. Hey eyes got puffy as she stared at a pack of peanuts;

6 Ante-Meridian

Their shift ended as quietly as it had started. The three of them finished with the last of their duties and made sure everything was spotless before they were relieved. Outside, the asphalt was moving from black to a washed-out grey. Connor held the door as Zo and Stacy walked out. They each went to their cars and put their things away. Stacy, exhausted from the night, was the first to pull off. Zo got in her beat-up Honda and sat for a minute, trying to itemize everything she still had to do that day. She decided to figure it all out at home, where she could make a proper to-do list.

As Connor put his things in the back, the sound of a car horn startled him.

“Hey Connor!” Zo yelled. He turned around. 

“I graduate in a year, and hopefully, hopefully, I’m gonna move out in two. So in three years time, when I’ve got my own place, I’m gonna come back here and I’m gonna buy one of those slushies. You are not gonna be the person that rings it up. Capiche?”

Connor chuckled to himself.

“Capiche.”

“Alright then.” And with that, Zo pulled off. Connor got in his car, adjusted his mirror, and then took off down the road.

The sun rose slowly over the back of the store. A squirrel scampered past the gluttonous dumpster, and as the first worker started wiping down the windows, he erased the smiley face that Stacy had drawn.