Worlds Apart

Chapter 4

Living in 2009 as an adult was definitely different than how she remembered it from when she was a kid.

In her timeline, she was only twelve years old. Things happened outside of her little bubble of childhood whether she was aware of it or not, and now, the veil was lifting back and she was getting to see some of those things - both good and bad.

For example, she knew about the recession and knew that a lot of people had a hard time because of it, but her parents did their best to shield all of that from her so that she could focus on being a kid. Trying to make good on her promise to not spend any money frivolously, Max occupied her mornings by taking a walk to the park - as long as the weather wasn't too bad - and there, she passed the time by doing many things, one of which being talking to other adults.

She didn't have to worry all that much because she was keeping her funds at a livable level while she waited to get a job, but other people didn't have that luxury - or the talent to steal from corporate goons whenever they wanted to. Not that she was proud of it, but if she was going to steal from someone, she felt less bad about stealing from them.

That being said, in conversations she'd have with strangers - most of which were with the homeless people who hung around the park - she got to hear all about how the recession was affecting them and how hard of a time they were having because of it. It saddened her to hear, but she gladly listened to their troubles. Besides, it wasn't like she had anyone else to talk to. Plus, she hoped that by lending a listening ear, it'd help them get whatever they needed to off their chests. It was a win-win.

On the brighter side of things, there were things here that she didn't have anymore back home. For example, Oreo Cakesters. They used to be her favorite snack - her favorite flavor being Chocolate Creme - when she was younger, but they discontinued them around when she was in early high school.

This was the one thing she decided to get herself that wasn't essential. Well, technically, she could count it as essential because she kept a box or two at a time in her hotel room so that she could snack on them if she was at home and wasn't that hungry. That kept her from going out and spending more money than necessary on food.

That was what she was doing today. After her daily venture to the park, she made her way over to the closest grocery store and stopped in to get some more Cakesters. She'd just finished the last one in her box the previous night, and she knew she'd kick herself later if she skipped going to the store to get herself more.

She was in line at one of the registers - Cakester box in hand and eagerly awaiting to be purchased - with one person ahead of her. At first she wasn't really paying attention to the woman in front of her, her eyes drifting off to whatever magazines were sitting up at the checkout, but after hearing the woman start raising her voice at the poor teenager behind the counter, her head immediately snapped up to look at her.

"I don't care what your policy is. I have a coupon, so use it," she told the boy, who's name tag read "Matt".

"Ma'am, like I told you before, I can't accept expired coupons. The system wouldn't let me put it in even if I wanted to," he tried to explain to her.

"But I got this from your coupon book!" she exclaimed. "What I want to know is why you guys are giving out expired coupons."

The lady huffed and crossed her arms in front of her.

"Ma'am, these coupon books are from our New Years promotion and this coupon expired two months ago. You had nine months to use it," he said, trying to be as polite as he could muster. Max could tell it was taking everything in this boy to not roll his eyes or start yelling, himself.