NEEDLING

These two twenty something girls came in the store last night half lit all ready but not in a bad way. One tall one and another one. They come in once a week usually. Party girls. Barely twenty five and all ready too much make-up, too many blocks gone around. But friendly in a way only total flakes can be. Joyous ride into nothing. The tall one was bending over facing me half way down the store picking out a fifth of vanilla flavored vodka, her skimpy half t-shirt not holding anything in. Her breasts hanging out. Then they came up to the counter. We have a little basket of free-stuff the distributors give out with their product’s name on them. This week it was Captain Morgan key chains. They were going through them and I told them they were free.

“Really?”
“Yeah... take as many as you want?”
“I can take more than one?”
“Sure...”
“Wow... this is so-n-so’s favorite drink, can I get him one too?”
“Take’em all if you want.”

And then I told them the half-gallon of straight vodka of the same brand they had picked was on sale for a mere eight bucks more than the fifth. Two and a half times the amount, I added.

“You ROCK LIKE CRACK,” the blond one screamed at me jumping up and down turning red in the face. The tall one with the skimpy shirt ran back to the vodka display to pick out the half gallon glass bottle. I thought for an instance the whole display was coming down crashing unto the floor.

A line of middle class bourgeois had formed behind the counter. They were turning red, shocked and amused at once, looking down at the floor whenever the blond girl turned back to them.

“I’m sorry... I’m just joking, I hope I’m not insulting anybody.”

Then she turned back to me, laughing her head off telling me how much I rocked. I was laughing and enjoying this attention.

My manager and my co-worker were whispering in the back.

Once everybody left, I said to them.

“What are you two whispering about?”
“I didn’t understand what she said,” my manager answered, “I thought she’d said: ‘You rock my crack!’ And I didn’t really know how to take that. Then D. explained what she said to me.”