Page 15 of Bound By Fate
Then I was gone. Had shit to do and probably people to fuck up. No one messed with Ravage. No one.
5
KATIE
Beep… beep … beep … beep…All day I heard that sound repeated. Nonstop. Beating into my brain. Each item scanned through the register had that sound. One after the other. A never-ending cycle of UPC codes and beeps from several different lanes of checkers.
There were times I heard that sound in my sleep, only to wake up in a hot sweat, which I found strange. Why would that sound keep me up at night or make me dream about it? Sure, it was a daily thing for me, but it shouldn’t invade my mind like that.
Being a cashier was a job, and like any other job, you put your head down and did it. You had a headache from the noise, you took Advil. Your feet hurt like heck, you pushed through and soaked them when you’d get home.
Epsom salt needed to be added to my grocery list. It was the only thing I could find that actually made my feet feel halfway normal.
But all that said, I was grateful for the job. When Ensley and I first got to Sumner, we had nothing but the clothes on our backs and a bag with random things from home. Having the Quickie Stock hire me with no previous job experience was a miracle.
At the commune, we never had to worry about jobs or money, because that wasn’t our responsibilities. My job was to raise the children, clothe them, feed them, teach them; pretty much do everything with them. That was a job I didn’t get paid for, though. It was one that was pressed upon me at an early age.
Luckily, my boss, Ms. Brashers, didn’t ask for a resume, just an in-person interview and hired me on the spot.
Many days were ten-hour shifts. My boss always wanted me to stay through shift changes so the customers never had to wait because we were switching out people. Good for the customers and good for me, because I got paid overtime. It was only an hour and a half, but when you work six days straight, you had nine hours extra on double time, I got paid for eighteen extra hours a week. I didn’t question it. Just took it as a gift from God and went with it.
The noise today, though, was riding on my last nerve. I had no clue why, maybe it was just an off day. But I had my mask in place, and no one who came to me today would know it. Don’t get me wrong, I was completely grateful for the job. It paid the bills. I just had my grumpy thoughts in my head from time to time.
I grabbed the can of corned beef and pulled it across the scanner, listening for the dreaded sound then bagged it. After finding the other four cans on the belt, I bagged and then double bagged them because no matter how heavy those cans were, the bags always seemed to rip. Orders like this one, I wished they asked for paper bags. We could only pull those out upon the customer’s request.
Finishing up, I smiled at the woman in front of me. “That’s twenty-seven dollars and twenty-three cents, Ms. Davis.”
“I’ve told you to call me Rene.”
I smiled wide. “I know, but I’ll still call you Ms. Davis.”
She chuckled. “Whatever you need to do.”
She was always nice and was a regular. I tried to learn the regulars’ names right away. It made them feel at home, and I wanted to make the best of the day. Having happy people at my register was better than the mean ones.
And boy did Sumner have some mean people. Mostly nice, but the ones who weren’t made the mean ones seem like an army.
“Here ya go, young lady,” she said, handing me some bills.
“Thank you.” I finished ringing her up and handed her the change.
“You have a good day.”
“You too.” She got her things and left.
One customer after the other came through my line. I was the first one who people saw when they came around the corner to check out. Therefore, I was always busy, but I liked it. It kept the day moving. No one passed up my lane if the line was small.
They’d talked about putting self-checkouts in, but I wasn’t too sure of those. If the company put them in, would I still have a job?
Ms. Jones came through my line next; her first name was Linda, but I never called her that. We chatted about the beautiful weather as I rang her up. Handing her the receipt, I moved to the next person, and my breath caught. It was difficult, but I kept the smile on my face and greeted her.
She only had a few items, and I scanned and bagged them, not really knowing what to say to her.
“I need your help,” she whispered quietly, and my eyes shot to my younger sister Margaret. She was next in line after me and Ensley. She looked absolutely petrified with sweat on her forehead and panic coming out of every pore.
“With what?”
She had a plastic bag in her hand, all wadded up, and handed it to me. “Don’t look now.”
