Feminine Aisle

"You're not one of the..."

And there it was. The five words she'd been waiting to hear for the past five years.

***

Horns honked from trucks, cars and buses inching bumper to bumper on Main Street. The vehicles jerked back and forth as the traffic signals switched from green, to yellow to red then green again. On cue, the pedestrians, bent their heads, glued their eyes to their phones as they walked between the crosswalk.

An armored truck approached the corner of Main and Day Street and parked on the side of the bank.

The perpendicular street sign, Main St./Day St. was in a perfect line of view through the side view mirror of the beige sedan sitting across the street. The sedan was parked fifty feet from the corner facing South on Day Street. Inside the sedan were three ladies, distinct in their own way, but wore matching jumpsuits and similar styles wigs. Dawn sat behind the wheel wearing a red wig with a pistol resting on her lap. Taya rode shotgun wearing a blue wig and a shotgun tucked between the seat and the door. A revolver sat on the seat in the back next to Lisa who was wearing a green wig chomping down on her nails. On top of each of their wigs were black ski masks.

"I don't know about this." Lisa admitted, voice shaking. "Let's go back. I think we should go back-"

"Go back to what?" Dawn twisted in her seat, focused her eyes on Lisa. "Or did you forget how they cut us out on that last job?"

***

The apartment wasn't much. A poof of dust flared out of the brown couch in the corner when Taya, Lisa and Dawn sunk into it. The windows were boarded up except for a few small cracks in each window allowing the sun to peek through. The place resided on the side of town that no one ever wanted to get caught dead in. Derek, Tim and Lamar resided there.

The gentlemen were counting money around a dirty dishes and ash tray filled table. Derek sectioned off the money into three equal piles. One for himself, Tim and Lamar. The ladies shared a glance. They were all thinking the same thing, but Dawn was the one that spoke up for them.

"Ay, Derek. Ain't you forgetting something?" Dawn stood up. "We were on that job too. Where's our cut?"

Derek looked at Tim and Lamar who had these smug looks on their faces. Derek stepped over to Dawn and got in her face. "What cut?"

Tim and Lamar burst out laughing like two hyenas. Derek's expression was cool as ice. So was Dawn's. Disappointed, Taya and Lisa got up and stood behind Dawn.

"Alright then." Dawn said, keeping her cool. "Let's go." She said to the ladies and the three of them turned and left.

***

"We're not going back. We calling the shots now." Dawn faced forward and focused her eyes through the side view mirror. Brows furrowed, eyes steady, not blinking.

The driver hopped out of the armored truck, walked towards the back of the truck.

Dawn's steady eyes shifted to the rearview mirror. She pulled the facemask over her face and said, "Let's do this."

***

Detective Alexandra Watson had one leg swung over the chair opposite Captain Boyd Beckett. When he didn't finish his sentence, her immediate reaction was to sit up right.

"I'm not one of the guys? Is that it? Is that what you were going to say, Cap'?"

"Ay, don't turn this into something," Beckett pointed at her, in an Uncle Sam-like gesture.

Watson stood up this time. "I'm not turning this into something. You turned it into something.

Beckett banged the table, rose to his feet. "For the love of Christ, Watson. Get out of my office."