The Convenience Store

The Convenience Store

It was a lovely Spring day. A Pepsi truck was parked in front of a large convenience store off Interstate 81. Alonso pulled his Chevy Suburban into the fuel Island and began pumping gas. A louvered side panel was pushed up on the truck and the driver was taking a dolly loaded with cases of Pepsi inside. He paused, noticing Alonso and established eye-to-eye contact. Then he strained, pushing the load through the sliding doors.

Alonso flicked open his cellphone and called Carmelita. It rang and she answered, “Hello Good looking.”

“I’m going in,” he said.

“Just coming off the freeway,” she replied.

He put the nozzle back and went inside to pay.

As Carmelita parked in front she noticed two scruffy looking characters getting out of a green S-10. The first had on a Carhart jacket and the other wore a raincoat. The one in front looked nervously about.

“Oh shit!” she muttered, opening the car door.

After paying the clerk Alonso went over to the magazine rack. The store was otherwise empty of customers.

The deliveryman was taking cases off the dolly and loading them into a shopping cart.

As the two men entered they split up and went separate ways.

Carmelita paused at the door and shaded her eyes looking through the window.

Subject # 1, wearing the Carhart, saw the deliveryman finish loading the cart. He walked over, brushed him aside and took the handle.

The deliveryman appeared confused and looked inquiringly towards Alonso who was looking at the Playboy Centerfold.

Subject # 1 Followed the glance and drew his pistol.

Carmelita entered and said emphatically, "Alonso!"

Subject #2 rounded an isle looking for who had just called out.

Alonso looked up, caught the glint of a firearm and dove to the floor.

“What the fuck is going on here?” asked the deliveryman in surprise.

Subject #1 shot him in the chest.

Carmelita shrieked. "HE HAS A GUN! Subject #2 drew down and shot reflexively. She fell to the floor.

Shooter #1 began firing his automatic into the newspaper stand as Alonso scuttled down the aisle. He emptied the magazine and let it drop to the floor, searching his pocket for another.

Shooter #2 looked in dismay at the lady he’d just shot.

Behind the counter, Sergeant Hollis, working off duty as the store clerk, unlimbered a double-barreled shotgun. He engaged and dropped shooter #1.

Shooter #2 fired wildly.

Hollis discharged the other barrel taking out the accomplice.

Alonso ran to where his wife was laying, crying hysterically, “Call 911! Call 911. He began to administer CPR and mouth-to-mouth recessation.

….

Carmelita and the delivery-man were pronounced dead at the scene.

The two gunmen were identified as Andrew Wallace a thirty-six year old ex-convict and petty criminal. His cohort was a cousin, eighteen-year-old Melvin Witherspoon. Andrew died shortly after arriving a First Memorial Hospital. Melvin followed on the operating table an hour later.

It was found that Wallace was a janitor at the local Pepsi bottling company. His cousin was unemployed and had a history of mental illness.

Sergeant Hollis, gave a complete statement of what happened confirmed by the video surveillance cameras. A hearing found him justified in the use of lethal force.

It was two days before Alonso was questioned. He had no previous record. He related to investagators that he met his wife at the scene to swap cars so she could take their daughter’s soccer team to practice.

At the crime scene, a white powdery substance was discovered streaming from one of the soda cans in the shopping cart. It was tested and found to be cocaine.