Long Exposure (See 'Moments')

November 16, 2013
I look up from my book.  I'm at my second job, the zombie shift (11:00 p.m.-5:00a.m.) at a gas station in a nowhere town.  This girl is the first living being I've seen in about half an hour. I can't help but wonder what a sixteen-year-old (or thereabouts) is doing at a gas station at 2 a.m., but to each their own, I guess. I think she's high.  She looks somewhat dead, half-tired and half- empty, swaying like a skyscraper on a windy day. She fumbles half-restlessly at the hem her oversized sweatshirt, bringing it a couple inches lower in her legging-ed thighs. She runs a hand through long, limp, mussed-up hair as she stares, somewhat disoriented, at the Monster selection. Eventually she picks one up and brings it to the counter, only then realizing that she didn't have any money on her. As she starts to pick it back up to take it back to the fridge, I notice something in eyes that are not bloodshot, but blurry. The thick eye-makeup that looks like it's but rubbed around and slept in. The look of vague embarrassment on the pretty face. She's not high. She's on a lever I was at once. Not hurting or happy or empty, with clear perspective and yet hopelessly confused. 
I pull a couple dollars out of my pocket. "It's fine," I say. "Take it."
He eyes widen a bit, but then she bites her lip, and then she smiles. Half-heartedly, but genuinely. She nodded and walked out, forgetting the energy drink.
***
She walks back to her house, half an hour from the gas station, feeling incredibly stupid but also not caring. If she didn't beat the light home, her parents would know she was gone. She doubted they'd approve of her midnight stargazing from the highway. She jogged for about thirty seconds, then decided it wasn't worth it. She would get there when she got there.
 

Ellen

July 21, 2013
Groceries, coffee, and...
"This is Missy Higgins!" I exclaim, excitedly looking at the CD case. "I love her!"
The woman checking out is pretty nondescript: long, dirty blond hair hangs in her thin, pale face, half-covering eyes of rich chocolate.  She's rather small in every aspect: short, slender, and very quiet, almost timid.  Like a little mouse.
She smiles wanly. "Yeah, I like her too..."
"I didn't know we had any of her stuff here. This was just with all the other ones?"
"It was in with....
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Dawn

February 28, 2013
Something about the girl seems familiar, but I can't place her. Maybe... Oh! That's it! Last time I saw her I think she had brown hair. She was with some awkward girl and some moody guy. She's a lot quieter now, though. She looks really serious, and maybe... scared? I dunno. Whatever. I wring up the makeup and the...
"Are you old enough to buy this?" I ask, looking skeptically at her young face and the Budd Light. She flashes an ID, though, and no matter how fake it looks, I'm not a cop so I ...
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Lady

October 12, 2012
The trio was laughing as they checked out. One was a brunette, tall, with sidebangs, very long hair, no make-up and a really odd laugh, but behind all that seemed to be a concern for more than a few things. She needed this laugh.
The other girl was also a brunette, with side bangs, but very small, with short hair and lots of make-up. She was acting almost drunk, but her eyes were clear. No one acted like this all the time. She was escaping from something.
The third was a guy, with auburn hair...
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Victoria Blair

September 11, 2012
The girl looked concerned... No, not concerned... more like scared to death. She didn't look more than fifteen, with long, curly dark red hair and an odd, spider-web-like pattern drawn in eye-liner around her massive, red-rimmed, blue-green eyes. She was only about five feet-tall, and not wearing shoes. 
I wrung up her short purchases- heavy-duty bandages, prescription pain medicine (I was stunned that she was nineteen, but she had both the prescription and her ID), and lots of chocolate cook...
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This Blog


This is more of an ongoing story than a blog. It offers a brief glimpse into the lives of random superstore shoppers who check out with a cashier named Wanda.
 
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