...In a Perfect World...

Chapter 1

Where are those dang keys? I fumbled around in my book bag and finally found the gold dangly key chain. As the lock rotated a swift click, I pushed the door open. It was four-thirty on a Tuesday, so I was heading to work to gain those few, sad greenbacks. As I stepped into the small mini-mart I looked around at the dark open space. "Mr. Karliel?" I called out, flicking the light switch up. "Over here, Mia!" My hippie boss yelled from the back of the shop. I set my bag on the counter and walked towards him. "Uh, be careful, Mia. There's a lot of nails on the ground there." Mr. Karliel said, pointing at the white tile in front of me. I sighed and stopped walking. "What are you doing?" I asked, trying to not sound rude, but failed. "I, am trying to add more shelves so's we can add more inventory." He said with a smile, concentrating on his work. I sighed. More inventory? We can't even get rid of the stuff we have now. I turned around swiftly on my heel and walked to the door. As I flipped the open sign around, a young man walked up to the door. He pushed it open and looked down at me. I scanned him as I walked behind the counter and he continued strolling the aisles. He seemed to be running from something. At least, that's what his bag of clothes suggested. As he left view, I swiftly adjusted my body to view the security cameras. He picked up a bag of dill pickle potato chips (my favorite) and swiftly slipped them into his bag. 'Hey! Put those back!" I yelled, racing down the aisle, and making eye contact with him. "Put what back?" He asked sheepishly. "Those potato chips." I said, reaching for his bag, and trying to grip the shiny edge of the chip bag, but he swung it away. "What's going on here?" Mr. Karliel asked from behind the young man. "He's trying to steal potato chips. They're in his bag." Mr. Karliel sighed and rubbed his beard. "Son, is this true?" He asked. The young man sighed and pulled the potato chips out of his bag and handed them to him. "Get." Mr. Karliel commanded, watching as the young man raced out. "I can't believe he did that..." I said, sighing, and brushing my thick bangs out of my eyes. "Mia, listen, that was a brave thing you did. It takes guts to strike someone out like that. I'm proud of you." I sighed and smiled. "Thanks." He winked and then went back to his work.