Excerpt: 4/32

He went outside for his 7th cigarette break of the day and I stayed perched against the wall, staring at the clock above my register knowing full well that time would move slower but I ceased caring. Silence for a while. And then the door opens but I pay it no mind until the potential customer is ready to ask if we have condoms or not, which we don't because we get maybe a shipment of 2 packs a week. In a medium-sized rural town, there is nothing more important to a woman than a child support check. It was always easy to catch me spaced out, stuck inside an introspective funk, which is what this robber had counted on. He caught me by surprise and barked at me to give him all the money in the safe with a very familiar, gruff voice. I looked up and saw a tall man in a balaclava and all black attire holding a pistol sideways. My first instinct was to correct him on how to hold the gun but I figured it best to act afraid and surprised. I immediately put my hands up and played dumb, making sure to observe all I could about him. His bad posture, uninspired outfit of a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans, gravelly voice and steady gun-hand made him a dead ringer for my neighbor, Tony.