Philip Gonza drove his black Mazda into his street mart private parking lot, waving to the security staff members as he passed. He parked at his usual reserved spot beside the Khaya tree, near the supermarket entrance. Turning off the engine caused the car radio to go off too, bringing the usual calm and quiet that he loved so much at this time of day.
Phil checked the time again. It was already 7.25. The sun was coming up full now. The Ever-Good supermarket did not open to customers until 8.15 AM and his self-assigned resumption time was 7.50. Although he liked to arrive at least twenty minutes earlier. It gave him time to chill in his car and fiddle with his phone or just let his mind roam.This was his routine every morning since his father handed him this shop. He loved sitting under this slightly large tree with his car door open in the mornings before resuming his duties. The only sound at this time was of birds singing atop the tree. Cars honked out in the street, but the sound was too distant to bother anyone sitting here at this hour.Even the heat of the morning sun could not get to him underneath the tree especially this time of the year when the tree's shade was this thick. He liked watching the morning shift staff walk into the supermarket premises to resume their shift. As much as he hated tardiness, this was not a witch hunt. The clocking machine did that job for him. It easily determined who was constantly late for their duties. Watching the staff come in was now part of his morning thing.At this time, some morning shift workers should have already entered before he arrived because they started work at 7.40. He bet his assistant was already in there. These ones were in the punctual category. They always came in before their resumption time. Then there were those who always walked in at the exact time, if not one minute late. The third category was those who were perpetually five or ten minutes late.As long as they came in before 8 AM, he often turned a blind eye to the latecomers, pretending not to notice them. He didn't waste energy on trivialities like that. The most important thing was competence and seriousness with their duties.Phil's eyes moved to the gate and he spotted one of the cashiers coming inside the premises. She had just walked through the gate. It was Miss Blue nails. She greeted the security guy with a smile and waved at someone else who Phil could not see from where he sat. No doubt it was the other security guard.The girl was dressed in denim today, top and bottom. The top had very small sleeves, it could've been a sleeveless top. Her deep black kinky curls were folded up as usual, but that shiny thingy on the ribbon caught the sunlight, causing her face to glint. He quickly looked away as she continued to head towards his direction to go round back into the staff entrance. He kept looking at her through his window glass as she walked by.This one was among the one-minute late category. Hell, she was the only one in that category. No one else came in for work exactly one minute before or after their shift resumption time. He could bet that the girl always hid somewhere every time, looking at her watch to make sure she was not one minute too early for work. It was also the same when she closed. She never lingered around the supermarket afterward. You would never find her here five minutes after her shift's closing time.Maybe today was the day she would hand in her resignation, Phil thought. He expected it every day when he saw her walking into the premises. From the moment she had started working here, he had known this one was not going to stick around for too long. It wasn't that she was incompetent. No. It was the contrary. She was overqualified for the role and clearly, she was holding on while actively searching for a better opportunity. Too bad, there was no room for promotion at this time in the supermarket.There was nothing new about the fact that most people were stuck in jobs they hated. In fact, the majority of people were in that situation. Phil tried to think of anyone he knew who loved their job. No one came to mind. The girl did her job quite well, but she didn't hide the fact that she hated it here. He was not sure how he felt about that because this was his business.Every once in a while, she would come up with an excuse to skip work. And Phil knew it was to attend an interview somewhere. He did not blame or hate her for it. He was no enemy of progress. But the other day, he spent a good deal of his day wondering what to do when he caught her red-handed.It was the day he went to Madam Daniels' funeral, God rest her soul. He was leaving the cemetery that day when he spotted her in front of the Coca-Cola kiosk right across the street.She had called in sick in the morning and he had found himself nearly worrying. Not that he had any business feeling that way. The girl had sounded so low on the phone and he had believed she truly was not well. Imagine his shock when he saw her standing by the kiosk, buying a drink, then proceeding to sit on the ugly bench under the torn Coca-cola umbrella some hours after she called.He had almost missed her because of the silly half-head cap she was wearing. But her hair had been tied the same way using her favorite ash-gray ribbon with the shiny thing. Well, she wore it more often, so it must be her favorite.She looked very formal and healthy in her button-down gown that for a moment, he forgot she had called in sick some four hours ago. From where he stood, he had also seen her very-formal shoes. The type of shoes that career, independent ladies like to wear.He recalled thinking she was probably on her way to an important meeting. Like an interview. That was when he quickly came to his senses and became confused about what to do. Like a creepy stalker, he had gotten into his car and followed her till she entered a shared taxi. Fortunately, the taxi had been heading in the direction leading back to the supermarket. Once in her street, the car stopped and she had gotten out. It appeared she had been on her way home from the "important meeting." He didn't know what pushed him to call her. When he did, she continued with the lie.Here he was, some two weeks later, and he was still unsure how he felt about that episode. Although he didn't know when, at some point, he had decided there was nothing to do about it. If she was still coming to work, it meant she had not gotten lucky. Yet. But soon, she would. Good for her, when that time comes.If there was an open higher position here, he could ask her to try for it. Unfortunately, there was none. Phil decided he was giving Miss blue nails too much space in his head, so he shook himself quickly. Working as a cashier in a supermarket was not a permanent role for someone like her. Besides, workers come and go in this line of business, especially in that role. No one would want to keep that job forever. Or for longer than five months. The fact that he recalled the time she started working here was something that bothered him.Checking the time, it was 7.45 now. He decided to head in and begin work for the day, anyway. It was better to fill his mind with his job rather than the temp staff. It was better to get busy rather than sit here worrying if today was the last day he would see her walk into this premises to resume her shift as usual.Once inside, he didn't go into his office or the store like he normally did. Like he should. Instead, he went into the supermarket, telling himself he needed to check on things there first. He kept his eyes away from all the cash points to prove to himself that this was his true reason for coming into the sales floor. But his resolve lasted less than two minutes. In a moment, he found his eyes moving from one cash counter to the next. "Is it today then?" He murmured.Solana Jang was no where in sight. One cash register sat vacant. Phil felt his stomach go sour as he climbed up to his office. She was probably waiting there to see him. His hand lingered on the door to his office before he opened it hesitantly.☆ Mark ☆It was the thirteenth day after his mother's funeral that Mark decided to save her "precious" Lovelane. That was not the only turnaround he made. Smoking weed beside her grave every morning was also cancelled. He decided it was pointless and a waste of time. Especially if he meant to save his livelihood. He couldn't decide what had brought on the epiphany. Was it the serious roasting he got from his uncle? Or the scolding that accompanied his merely mentioning that he wished to sell the place? One thing was certain. The talk with Kendi, his cousin, the one who was set to take his house, had played a major role.When she called at first, he'd told himself to bear in mind that money and property caused family members to turn on each other. All of his mother's assets would go to her if he failed to adhere to the will. So he'd listened without forming any real opinion.It had been on the tip of his lips to beg her that he didn't want to be homeless. She could take everything else
Days later.Walking was good for the soul and body, Solana told herself, ignoring the shared cab honking to get her attention. The man's car was not yet full and he needed just one more passenger to complete the seats in order to earn his full money for the trip. Her job required sitting most of the time, so walking was good exercise. Never mind that her house was some twenty-five minutes walk from the supermarket where she worked. And she didn't have any extra calories to burn. This workout was not needed at all unless she was trying to lose her non-existent weight.Who was she kidding? She didn't want to walk home. The only thing she liked about her job was its proximity to the house. She always arrived home five to ten minutes after her shift, depending on the traffic situation. That was something very few people enjoyed in this busy city. But walking instead of taking a cab meant not getting back as quickly as she liked to. The only problem was she hated spending money nowadays.
'Nice and calm.' It was raining outside. All the air-conditioners were turned on. Solana snuggled into her jacket, enjoying the calmness of her surroundings as her eyes scanned the sales floor and aisles. It was a Friday morning. The supermarket was still empty except for the morning shift staff and two customers. Nope. Three. A formally-dressed tall man was now walking toward the cash counters with two large loaves and something else Solana couldn't see. She guessed the other two customers were probably just window shopping. "Do you know what a shopping cart is?" She wondered aloud, looking at the man approaching the cash point. He chose to stop at Zuri's counter, and Solana gave a silent prayer of thanks."Nice and calm." She hummed silently. It was wrong to enjoy the peace that came with slow business hours. Especially since this was where she earned her living. But she couldn't help it. The weather made her want to stay like this till she clocked out later. She did not feel li
*** Mark *** Mark sat where his mom used to sit and work in the brightly lit, sparsely decorated, spacious office. As he stared at the open Excel sheet on his mother's laptop, he mouthed, "Unbelievable." The initial renovations had actually had an effect. And quickly, too. He'd noticed the increase in foot traffic, but he didn't know things had picked up at this pace. Things have gotten much better than he expected in such a short time. So the free condoms worked, huh? How about that? He couldn't help but smile. But he quickly reminded himself that he had only scratched the surface of the beginning. It was a great start. He must maintain this momentum for the next five months, give or take. That meant continuous improvement. Or kaizen, as the Japanese called it. At least the very least, he must constantly do something new to spur the steady increase of guests. At some point in the last few weeks, he realized he couldn't do this alone. Joe and Ugo were a great help with security,
*** Solana ***Moments later, Sol followed the tall handsome stranger with beautiful eyes into his hotel room. The place was a little larger than average. The light was dim and the room smelled of fresh air and lemon, with a hint of tobacco. He pointed at the door on the left which was slightly ajar as they walked in. Sol quickly headed in there to do her business. She walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later. As she shut the door, the man stood up from where he sat on the nicely done bed. "Clean, isn't it," He said as he walked in slow, casual strides."Thank you for letting me use it." She smiled. "And sorry for jumping to conclusions this morning at the supermarket.""No problem and no problem.""So were you able to test the condom? Did you test it on a toy or a person?" Her voice rang with laughter. She was feeling so bold. Alcohol was the shit, yeah! She thought."You seem different tonight... Uninhibited." His voice was soft as he ignored her jokes."You don't know how I
*** Mark *** "So-Yeah...Alright." Mark remained seated on the bed, nodding his head to nothing, no one, and for no reason as the door clicked shut after the girl went out. He realized what he was doing and decided his brain was still on pause because the only words he could get out after what just happened were those three meaningless mumble - so yeah alright! He had been blank from the moment she had walked out of the bathroom with her eyes glinting flirtatiously. Getting off the bed, he quickly made his way into the bathroom. When he came out minutes later, he was determined to get his head back on track. "Maybe- MAYBE! That should not have happened!" He said while looking around the bedroom for his briefs. Sex was not part of the plan. Quite unexpected. If he were honest with himself, the whole brain pause had begun the moment she stood up from among her friends and walked unto the dance floor. The only thought in his head as he watched her, as she looked at him invitingly,
*** Solana *** Julie and her fiance, David, did not travel back together the next day as planned. She was still upset when they woke up in the morning, so she didn't return his call as she told him she would. That Saturday was Solana's day off from the supermarket. They spent the morning and afternoon watching TV, window shopping at the mall, and finally seeing a late afternoon movie in the cinema. While they were in a boutique at the mall that afternoon, Sol's phone rang. It was Dave calling her, his last resort after trying and failing repeatedly to reach his girl. When Sol answered the phone, he simply said, "Can I talk to her?" Without a hello. The guy was not Sol's favorite person at the moment, too, so she replied, "She has a phone, Dave. You really don't think I'll help you, do you? After calling me a slut-" "I don't need your help, Sol. Just give her the phone so I can talk to her or I'm calling her mom." "Wow! Seriously? You think threats will help your case?" "Give h
*** Solana ***Mr. Gonza was now standing two feet from Solana’s table, looking quite interested in her response to his question. Had she been talking aloud? Wasn't it a symptom of madness?"Ah. Yes, sir. Everything’s alright." Solana replied quickly. "Good.Visa is down. Accept other cards and cash. Or have them use the QR code." He informed her."Got it." "Tell the others." He gestured with his head to the other cashiers before turning away. Sol nodded. A customer was now pushing his cart toward her table at the same time while the manager was walking away. The market was somewhat full now, which meant they were about to get very busy. She didn't want to forget to pass the manager's instructions to the others, so she decided now was the best time to do so."Just a moment, please." She told the customer who was now at her table and unloading his cart. Going over to the next cashier, she delivered the message. Then to the next. Moments later, she returned to her table to find Mr.