The Convenient Truth

Sadie has a conversation with a man who values life.

         Sadie stood behind the register of the local convenience store. Her elbow on the counter and her knuckles in her cheek. Slow days were painful. Most days were just that. She had just started the job not long ago. She struggled out of high school with no real carer trajectory, this was easy money, and she didn't feel pressure to advance. She was left to herself and could walk outside to smoke any time she wanted.
         The sun on its last legs poked its way through the large windows at the front of the store creating a myriad of colors inside as the light pushed through the ads stuck to the glass. The bell chimed at the door. Sadie stood herself up straight and watched a man in a dark hoodie approach. His hands were deep in his pockets pulling the hood tight over the top of his head. His face was covered in scabs and flecks of blood. His eyes wavered and never stopped to focus on any one thing.
          "Pack of reds, and this," the man said as he shoved forward two candy bars, a coke, and a bottle of lighter fluid.
         Sadie knew him. Paul Haskin from her graduating class. He was a stud on the football team at one point in time. Now he was almost unrecognizable behind the scabs and sunken face. She watched him squirm in his own skin as she rung up the items. He was not in the right state of mind to recognize her.
         "Twenty-three fifty," she said.
         He slid a card that most certainly wasn't his through the reader. Sadie didn't care. The card was approved, and Paul, without waiting for a bag, gathered his things in his arms and quickly made his way out of the store. Sadie let out a sigh as he left. With every person that entered the store, she had the immediate assumption she was going to be robbed.
         She spent most of sundown restocking and correcting old price labels. It was now dark outside, and the fluorescent glow of the store began to wear on her eyes. The door chimed and Sadie rushed back over to the counter. As she positioned herself behind the register, she examined a man in a button up blue polo. He had classic features like he would've been attractive in the 50's. Now-a-days people would call that plain. His dark hair was slicked back and wavy.
         The man placed a single bottle of water on the counter. Sadie placed the scanner on it, and it responded with a beep.
         "Will that be all?"
         The man eyed Sadie's pack of cigarettes next to the register. "Those will kill you ya know," he said.
         "No shit?" Sadie retorted.
         The man chuckled as he reached for his wallet. "I'm just saying, you're too young to throw your life away."
         "What does it matter? The same worms that eat you will one day eat me too."
         The man took a step back as if he were digging in footholds for further argument. A challenge. "Yea but what we have is valuable. Right? From birth to death has to be worth something," he said.
         "You think so? Ok, what was your great-great-great grandfather's name?"
         The man froze. His eyes locked on Sadie, and he struggled for a response.
         "Yea that's what I thought," Sadie said. "The man that created your lineage isn't even remembered. Not even by name. So, in the end, who cares?"
         "I'm just saying that our individual self is worth something. We are only here for a little while, so make it last. Life must be valuable. It has to mean something, because if its not, what am I even doing?"
         "Looks like you are purchasing a bottle of water," Sadie said, buttoning up the argument.
         The man stood his ground in thought for a moment completely tense. Sadie continued to stare at him, but she felt uneasy. Like she had just delivered a hard truth to a child and now had to watch them rethink reality. The man's fists were balled tightly, and his teeth clenched. Then all at once he relaxed and took a step forward to the counter with wallet in hand.
         "A dollar twenty," Sadie said.
         He pulled two bills from his wallet and placed them on the counter.
         "Sorry sir, I didn't mean to upset you."
         "Its ok. You're just so pretty and young. I think your life means something. Its valuable to me I suppose even if not to yourself."
         She chewed on the words for a moment as she changed out the dollar bill. She slid the coins across the counter. "And what does my life mean to you?"
         "Everything," he said with a smile and pocketed the change. He took his water and left the store.
         Sadie's mind kept returning to the conversation the rest of her shift. She stepped outside into the brisk night, cigarette in hand. She placed it between her lips and brought up her lighter. She took a beat and replayed the man's words in her mind before she defiantly flicked the lighter and lit her cigarette. She inhaled deeply and let the smoke hang in her lungs a bit before finally exhaling an exaggerated plume into the cold air.
         She finished her daily work, and the rest of the night was spent flipping through pages of magazines aimlessly just waiting for her shift to end. The horizon started to glow with the morning sun. She glanced out the window waiting for Jeff to arrive to relieve her of her shift. She saw a police patrol car pull into a parking spot in front of the door. She went back and took position at the register.
         The officer walked in, and the door greeted him with the familiar chime. He was wearing khaki tactical pants with a black polo tucked into the waist. On his belt was his badge and, on his hip, his firearm.
         "Howdy ma'am," he said as he approached the counter.
         Sadie stood staring at the man with raised eyebrows. Her way of saying 'what do you want?'
         "I'm Detective Pickens and we are on the lookout for a dangerous man. We believe he may have stopped here. You mind if I ask you a few questions?"
         "Ask away officer."
         "Ahem, Detective, ma'am."
         "Detective."
         Pickens reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rectangular piece of paper and presented it to Sadie. The photo was a portrait like you would see in the hallway of a family home. It was a picture of the man she had spoken to earlier.
         "Have you seen this man?" he asked. His eyes were targeted on Sadie to judge her reaction upon seeing the photo.
         Her eyes grew wide, "Uh yea. He was in here during the night. He bought a bottle of water and left."
         "Ok, ma'am y-"
         "Sadie."
         "Ok, Sadie," Pickens corrected himself. "Do you have any sort of security cameras? Anything I can run back and look at the tape for?
         Sadie showed Pickens the small, closed loop camera system for the store and the detective spent a few minutes pulling the camera footage onto a thumb drive. He was clearly adept with the software and had done this sort of thing before. He was downloading the clip of Sadie speaking with the man in the store.
         "What did he do?" Sadie asked as she watched over the detective's shoulder.
         "We believe him to be involved in a series of murders throughout the county," he said nonchalantly.
         Sadie crumpled to the floor and buried her knees to her chest. The detective noticed her drop to the ground and quickly spun the chair around to comfort her.
         "Ah hell, I'm sorry. I should've kept that to myself. You ok, ma'am?"
         "Sadie," she said sniffling.
         "Sadie. You ok? Is there someone I can call for you to come pick you up?" He pulled her off the floor back into a standing position.
         "No. I have to wait for Jeff. He is my manager who is supposed to relieve me."
         "Is he coming soon? I can wait with you."
         "He should be here any minute," she said still stifling tears.
         Sadie stood outside with the detective watching the sun come up. While she had waited, she filled a police report and all the respective paperwork to release the security footage.
          While waiting for Jeff, who was always late, she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her purse and rand her thumb across the lid to reveal the filtered ends. She paused a moment. She replayed the nights events in her head and tossed the pack into the trash can.