Penny Max and the Runaway Lottery Ticket: Hilton Head Chronicles Part 1

VI. In Which Maddy Alexander Backs Up the Piggly Wiggly Check Out Line

Warm up: 'Back to Black' by Amy Winehouse

Madeleine Alexander had only one goal for the day. To get through work and get home and curl up on her couch. She kept a smile pasted on her face as she continued to check people out through her cashier line, but it wasn't easy as migraine pain slowly crept it's way up the back of her neck to the top of her head. Still new to the island, the heat of the area took some getting used to.

The 55-year-old had moved to the island after selling everything she had back home and just making the jump to live near a beach - a dream she had had for most of her adult life. But she was finding that dreaming the dream and living the dream were definitely two different things. Especially after she was scammed out of her life savings soon after relocating to the sunny locale.

Now instead of working a part-time job to keep busy and help with beach incidentals, she was working two full-time jobs to make ends meet and keep from returning home. The last thing she wanted to hear were her married sisters tell her they told her so and then offer her a room and cleaning jobs in their homes out of pity. Time meant to be spent walking the beach was now spent resting between jobs. One day a week, she had a half day that she saved up to enjoy the beach that she had dreamed of for so long, but instead of fully enjoying it, she'd always be melancholy at the thought of leaving it someday.

These were the kinds of thoughts that plagued Maddy as she tried to cheerily check out her customers and feign interest in their purchases and run their coupons properly. She was head cashier, which is what all those years at working at her local library back home got her here - that and the closing dinner waitress at Carabbas down the road.

"Yes, yes, it's two-for-one Tuesday. No, no not that brand of soup. Yes, yes yellow flowers do brighten up a patio. No, no your coupon won't work, it's expired," all variations of her daily conversation with her customers. That and "Tell Shawn it's time for his break. No Taylor, I can't change the schedule on such a short notice but see if Gail or Janet will switch with you. George, the truck is unloading out front and he's been told to do it in the back time and again. Can you handle that please? It's two-for-one Tuesday and we are swamped up here."

Today was no different. Between call-offs and a favorite cereal brand on sale, her head was spinning trying to keep up. Then she looked up her line and a genuine smile replaced the fake one she had. Plus a sigh of relief.

"Hello Ruby, how are you today? And how are you Penelope Maxima?" asked Maddy, always utilizing the white dog's impressive nomenclature. The sweet little face always looked up excitedly at Maddy and propped her front paws up onto the cart and gave one little yip. Maddy laughed over the dog's excitement and enjoyed the pleasant though brief weekly encounter with the pair. In her more carefree days when she had more time on her hands, she might have invited them to lunch. But her current financial standing ...

Ruby Mae took a few minutes to chat with the cashier, sharply eyeing her slightly faded though immaculately clean shirt and brunette hair sprinkled with grey instead of tinted like most women her age.The cashier always took time to ask about her day and always had a biscuit for Penny Max. 

But Ruby noticed the rings under her eyes and slight hunch of a person who spent too much time worrying about life and money. Despite Ruby's appearance of disinterest in anything outside her sphere of influence including her loud mumu and brightly-colored tote bags, she was smart as a whip and caught every detail. 'Things were coming to a head with this one," Ruby Mae thought briefly, as the cashier handed her a receipt.

After Ruby Mae and Penny Max left the store, Maddy put the closed sign on her register and left for the break room. She walked by a very sun burnt and tall man who was wiping the sweat from the back of his neck with a cloth. She felt a cold shiver run down her back as she passed him by. He reminded her a little of Randall.

Though she fought the train of thought, the train left the station and the recollection came to the forefront of her mind along with her worries as she slowly sat down in the break room, putting her hand to her head and rubbing her temples. He was such a pretty looking man, she couldn't believe he kept coming around...

She remembered when she had first arrived on the island and everything seemed so hopeful, sparkling even, like the sun off the ocean waves. Her first month was filled with decorating her little trailer and taking long walks on the beach every morning and every evening, even when it was looking stormy, even when it was humid. And that's where she met Randall. 

As she walked in the morning, he was there with a metal detector and he'd wave occasionally. And when she walked in the evening, he was sitting on a beach chair reading. After a couple weeks, they would chat occasionally about the weather and what he had found and what he was reading.

It had been years since she had been in a relationship, let alone dated. And she found herself looking forward to his smile, his voice, his details. By the end of the month, they had met up for coffee in Bluffton. By the end of the next month, he was staying over and they were enjoying coffee in her trailer. By the end of the third month.... well that's when she tried to end the memory train, but it continued relentlessly on.

She woke up late that fateful morning. She reached over for him and what fully awoke her was the coldness of the bed on that side. She looked over at the cable box on her tv and saw it was close to noon. That got her out of her bed. She looked around and got dizzy, her head starting to pound. Maddy sat down on the side of her bed for a moment to regain her footing and noticed her purse on the floor with the contents poured out. Assuming it had fallen over, she got up and quickly put everything back inside it, not noticing a few things missing, such as her checkbook and money purse.

She absentmindedly dropped it onto her kitchen counter as she went to her coffee pot. As her head continued to pound, she realized his absence was unexpected and redirected from her coffee pot to the counter, then back to her bedroom dresser, then the end table by her bed, looking for a note, something. She went into the bathroom and as she reached into the medicine cabinet, she noticed his toothbrush was gone. That's when her search became more serious.

And by the time her search was done, and later, a visit by the police, she faced the cold hard truth: that he was a common thief who preyed upon women such as herself using romance to take from them not only their hearts, but their finances as well. He had drained her checking and savings account and had done it in such a way that only a $1000 was returned to her accounts.

 The final insult was leaving the metal detector in her trailer and as she tried to sell it to a local pawn store to get something, something out of it, she found it was broken. It didn't even work!

"Maddy. Maddy!' And Maddy looked up to see the store manager looking at her quizzically. 'Are you okay?" he asked her. "You were supposed to be back from your break 15 minutes ago." "I'm so sorry Mr. Casey. I thought I was just sitting here a moment or two." "It's alright, we're just short-handed and need you back on the floor." "Yes, yes of course, two-for-one Tuesday." Maddy stood up and stretched her neck a little. Then she went toward the front of the store.

She bumped into a man as she worked her way to her cash register, making him drop some cans in his hands. She bent down to help him pick everything up, apologizing. Phil Hanover told her not to worry about it, more worried about how distraught she was then the state of his cans. Maddy Alexander apologized again, and wiped away a couple tears and rushed back to her line.

"Just face it Maddy, you were just stupid," she said to herself, usually once a day. Whether it was about still missing Randall or losing all her life savings, she refused to acknowledge which it was to herself.