yancey got up early the next day. he had the whole day to kill before he went back to work at the restaurant at midnight.
he had nothing to do, so he decided to go for a walk. he figured he would walk for a couple of hours, and then come back and eat some of the food left in the refrigerator, maybe make a sandwich or something, and then watch something on the history or the alternate history channel.
and then maybe take a little nap until it was time to go to the restaurant.
it occurred to him as he started on his walk, that he did not really have a care in the world.
and that that was a good way to be.
he headed for the outskirts of town.
there was not a cloud in the sky. it was not too hot, and there was a gentle breeze.
and then, suddenly, the breeze became a stiff wind, clouds appeared, and it began to rain.
it began to rain really hard. yancey stepped inside a little convenience store.
a really little convenience store. it had two short aisles, but they only came up waist high, so he could not wander through them out of view of the clerk.
there were no other customers.
the clerk was a thin, mean looking young woman in a black t shirt with a symbol on it yancey did not recognize.
“you looking for sonething?’ she asked.
“uh - not really.”
“not really?”
“i was just getting out of the rain.”
“i suspected as much.”
“i won’t steal anything. i promise.”
“what if twenty people come in here and just want to hang out and promise they won’t steal anything. then what? am i supposed to keep an eye on all of them?”
“there aren’t twenty people in here now,” yancey told her.
“buy something or leave, slick.”
or what? yancey thought. will she pull out a gun or a crossbow and shoot me? call the police? aloud he said, “all right, i’ll buy something.”
“what?”
“what would you suggest?”
“how about a lottery ticket?”
“i’ve never bought a lottery ticket in my life.”
the young woman almost smiled. “then you should have beginner’s luck. “
“how long can i stay in here if i buy one?”
“buy a hundred thousand dollar ticket for two dollars, and you can stay for fifteen minutes.”
yancey looked out the window at the rain. it looked like a monsoon. “all right.”
he bought the ticket. after selling him the ticket, the young woman took out her phone and started watching something on it. yancey got the message. she did not want to chat with him.
he stood at the door looking outside it at the crashing rain.
an old woman came into the store and yancey stepped aside to let her pass.
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