Flash Fictions by Benjamin D. Togate

Listening to Silence

„Excuse me miss, you can’t bring your cat in here”

I braced myself. Because I knew, this would be yet another one of those situations, where I’d be met with anger for doing my job. Our store had a strict no pet policy and besides stocking veggies I had to enforce those rules from time to time.

Hell, I didn’t earn enough to deal with this shit. But here I was. I didn’t have an alternative right now and I desperately needed that money. So I sometimes endured angry customers screaming at me for minimum wage.

But to my surprise the cat was the only one glaring angrily. It was a cute, that white little kitty peeking out of a paper bag.
The women holding her turned around in surprise.

“Oh” she said, her eyebrows turned into a frown. It wasn’t hostile, it was confusion.
Then her eyes widened and she looked around hastily.

“I’m sorry miss, it is our policy” I quickly said.
Her hand formed a nervous fist.

“O…k”

She almost swallowed that 2nd letter of this two letter word and hushed away.

What a weird encounter, I thought to myself.

Not much made me wonder anymore these days. Not the guy buying q-tips in huge bulks, not the women mumbling to herself loading her shopping with cereal, not even the grandpa calling everyone – regardless of gender – Earl.

At least Grandpa Earl, as I liked to call him behind his back, was generally pleasant. He liked to praise me, what a good boy I was and he also talked about the lovely weather – even if there was a snowstorm howling outside. When I was at the check-out I always had oranges next to me, because I knew he liked those. I would add one into his shopping bag each time without him noticing.

So with all these and similar things happening daily, I didn’t wonder long about that strange girl and went back to stocking. Fun times. By the time we were about to close I had already completely forgotten about the encounter.

Until I saw her sitting on a bench across the store. She sat there kind of slumped with the paperbag and her kitty on her lap. Had she been out there for hours?

I decided to take a short break and head over. I regretted the decision when I reached that bench.

The awkwardness, oh, the awkwardness. She looked at me, I looked at her and I forgot what I wanted to say or why I even headed out there in the first place. She didn’t say a word either.

“Do you… do you need anything?”
She just stared at me.
“I mean from the store, you went there earlier with your cat.”
She pulled the bag and her cat slightly towards her body, as if to shield it from me. Then she reached for her cats body and patted it lightly. The cat again, glared at me. But the woman took a deep breath.
“I need, uh, cat food and two oranges”
“Got it!” I said and rushed inside to get her these two items before my colleagues closed up.

Just a minute later I handed them to her with a smile. She pulled out a wallet but I held up my hand saying “It’s okay. Next time.”.

She looked away.

“She is a service animal, isn’t she?” I asked motioning towards this feisty little kitten.
The woman shook her head, looking down at her little friend.
“Emotional support?”
She slightly nodded.

“I am so sorry” I said “If I had known that I wouldn’t have said anything. I’ll make sure word gets around among my colleagues.“
She didn’t smile. But I could see and feel a huge sense of relief around her. She now took her clenched fist and pounded her chest lightly all the while tears welled up in her eyes.

“Thank you” she whispered with a shaky voice. I bowed slightly and left her be.

Because she looked so nice and put together, I hadn’t seen nor thought of it. But at 2nd glance it was as clear as day. I mean, obviously I didn’t know exactly what was going on. Maybe PTSD, maybe social anxiety, maybe something else. But I knew what feeling overwhelmed felt like all too well.

And I knew how good it felt when people stopped to listen without pressure to speak. My heart was filled with empathy for that young womans struggles.I hope she had help.

But for the first time in a long time I went home feeling happy to be exactly where I was in my life.