From Dawn (published)

Four

Friday
10:05pm

Obnoxious guy had drank about half of that drink.

Dawn couldn't believe that she had actually served someone spit. She also couldn't believe that she didn't feel all that guilty over what she'd done. The guy had been a pain in the ass, but a low blow like that wasn't something Dawn would normally be ok with.

Closing the door to her car as gingerly as possible, the headache pounding at her temples was reaching all new levels of torment, she sat with the key in her hand for a moment. Most nights, Dawn wouldn't go home this early. Her mom tended to stay up until around midnight, and she did her best to avoid her after work. There was only so many times a day a person could listen to the same speech before she lost it, and after dealing with difficult customers at work, it was just best if she avoided her mother until she'd had time to sleep. But tonight she wasn't feeling at all well. Definitely not good enough to go to any of her normal after work haunts.

Her head hurt, she was starving, and she was becoming increasingly irritable. Though, in all fairness, all three were probably related. It had been a while since she'd ate. Starting the car, she steered for the grocery store on the other side of town. A bottle of aspirin and junk food in some ridiculous, giant size sounded like just what she needed at the moment.

This late at night the grocery store was all but deserted. Two older model cars, most likely belonging to employees, were parked at the far end of the lot. A shiny suv and a rusty van were parked near the door. Dawn parked between them and hurried inside.

She grabbed the aspirin off of it's shelf, a bottle of soda out of the cooler near the front, and turned down the snack food aisle. Stopping midway, Dawn contemplated her choices. Chocolate was always a winner. A bag of mini sized candy bars to her right looked good.

But then, she was craving something salty. In front of her, rows of chips in dozens of flavors, beckoned. Impulsively, she decided to pig out on both. She was really, really hungry.

Snatching up both bags, she started towards the checkout lanes. This late at night there was only one lane open, and Dawn found one of the few other shoppers already there, unloading her full cart onto the belt.

The irritation returned in an instant. Her four items should have taken no time at all to pay for, but she was going to end up standing behind the other woman for a while. Patience was not her strong suit at the moment.

Tapping her foot, she looked anywhere but at the other customer, afraid that the look on her face would give away her less than friendly thoughts.

Her eyes skimmed the covers of the gossip magazines.

She contemplated the smashed grape that was stuck to the tile floor.

Finally, she turned to look at the candy selection.

Her gaze skimmed along the gum, chocolate, and breath mints. It stuck on the mini sized bag of beef jerky.

Suddenly, the smell of that steak that she had wanted to sniff at work was vividly brought to mind. It had smelled amazing.

Dawn wasn't a vegetarian because she felt eating an animal was wrong. She had just honestly found the smell and taste of meat not to her liking for a long time. So she was confused why that piece of steak had been different. She was going to have to remember to ask the kitchen if they had started seasoning the meat differently.

The woman in front of her was finally finished paying for her groceries. With a small forced smile, Dawn pulled out her card and waited impatiently to pay. All she wanted was to get out of there, go hide in her room, and eat herself into a junk food coma. Thanks to Kay taking her shift the next night, she didn't have to worry about getting up to go in to work. She could sleep around the clock if she wanted to, and right now, she wanted to.

Card in one hand and plastic bag in the other, she reached for the receipt that the teenage cashier was handing her.

Suddenly, Dawn sneezed. Violently. Wetness splattered all over both her own hand, and the hand of the boy.

Horrified, she stuttered an apology while he wiped his hand off on his shirt, right below his name tag, with a disgusted look. Dawn practically ran from the store in embarrassment, vowing to avoid the checkout lane with the cashier named Brian for the rest of her life. She wasn't sure she could face the teen again after sneezing all over him.

On the short drive home, she sneezed several more times. The sneezes were violent, and came on with no warning.

Her already foul mood plummeted further. With the way she had been feeling all night, and now the crazy sneezing, she was starting to think that she was coming down with something. That was just her luck. She had a rare Saturday off, and it looked like she was going to spend it sick.