All I wanted was some gum.
I pulled into one of those mini-marts that stay open all night and it was already well past midnight. There was only one other car in the parking lot. I pulled up fast and hopped out. I planned to run in, grab a pack of any gum, toss down the buck or two and run out.
My first problem was the incredible brightness in there. Jeez, it was bright. Not a shadow to be found anywhere. I tried to find the gum section. I saw the candy display and started searching. There was a woman at the other end of the aisle who kept looking toward the front. She didn't move. I glanced over at her and she just stared wide-eyed, her mouth open. I turned in the direction she was staring and there was an East Indian guy standing behind the counter and someone in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head standing in front of him. Neither of them moved or said anything. It was a little weird, especially when I could hear You Make Me Feel Like Dancing playing over the sound system.
I found nuts and candy but no gum. Finally, I asked the guy behind the register where I could find the gum. He just kept staring at the guy in the sweatshirt and the guy in the sweatshirt kept staring back at him and the woman kept staring at the both of them. No one spoke. Just the sound of ...Dancing... echoing in that big, bright store. I went to another aisle and saw a twenty-something Goth kid who was wearing a Death Wish t-shirt and carrying a skateboard. He was staring at the ground, and like the others not moving. "You know where they keep the gum in this place?" I asked. No response from him, either. Nothing. This had to be the weirdest mini-mart in town. My plan for darting in and out was failing miserably.
I went up to the register and told the counter guy, "All I want is some gum. Any kind." That's when sweatshirt guy turned around and I saw the gun. It was a big, black gun. An automatic. At this point I should have stood still like the rest. I should have remained frozen in place and waited for the world to end but I didn't. They've asked me over and over since then why I didn't and I still don't have a good answer. I'm no hero, certainly. It had nothing to do with bravery. It was just a reaction, a reflex I couldn't control. I leapt toward the sweatshirt guy, my hands out for the gun. I got both my hands on his wrist and as I twisted his arm away from me the gun went off in the direction of the clerk. The clerk ducked and there was glass shattering and the smell of booze. The thief had his other arm around my neck but I was able to pull him over my shoulder. The gun went off again in the other direction. I saw the woman drop to the ground. I yelled for Goth boy to hit the thief over the head with his skateboard but instead the kid tried to jump over the two of us and make for the door. The gun went off a third time and the kid collapsed on top of me. The thief wriggled out from under us and ran outside. I heard a car door slam and the screech of tires.
I stood up and saw that I was covered in blood. At first I panicked and my head reeled as I felt all over for the wound. But I was fine. The blood was from the kid, who'd been shot through the heart. He was dead. I saw the woman lying on her back and ran to her but the thief's bullet got her through the head. Another one gone. The only thing left was to check on the clerk. He was crumpled on the floor behind the register, shot through the chest, dead. Obviously he hadn't ducked. Three dead in a matter of seconds. I ran to my car because that's where I'd left my cell phone, but the car was gone. That's when I remembered that in my haste to just 'run in and run out' of the store I'd left the keys in the car. The gunman used my car for his getaway!
The Goth kid's skateboard had rolled over near the door when he fell and now I sat down on it and leaned against the shelves. As I did a few packages fell to the floor and I picked one up. It said, Orbit Gum. I smiled and took a piece.
As I chewed the gum I realized that some things are just meant to be.
- C. S. Winter