“Will that be credit or debit?”
“That’ll be debit.”
“All right, slide your card through.”
Fenn did.
Brendan frowned and straightened his apron. “Could you try that again?”
“You know,” Fenn said to Paul. “Every time this happens I always get afraid that someone had taken all my money, or I’ve miscalculated and don’t have a dime to my—ah—”
“There it is,” Brendan said, cheerfully, as if he’d experienced a personal triumph. He took the little red pencil, circled the bottom, and said, “You’ve saved fifteen dollars and got ten gas points.”
“That makes me so happy, Brendan,” said Fenn. “I can’t tell you how happy that really makes me.”
“Mr. Houghton, I can never tell when you’re joking,” Brendan said with a grin and Fenn handed the receipt to Paul saying, “Mr. Houghton? It makes me feel so old.”
“Well, you are old,” Paul said, taking the card.
“I know,” Fenn lamented. “And I hate it.”
“Have a good day,” the boy who piled the last of the groceries in the bag said with a grin and a shake of his head.
“You too,” Fenn said, and helped push the cart a few feet toward the busy exit.
“You know,” he murmured to Paul as they threaded the cart through trawling cars cars, “if I were a few years younger, and single again…”
“Bagboy fantasies?”
“I can’t help myself.”
“I did a movie like that,” Paul murmured, as they headed out onto the blacktop. “It was actually called Bagboy Fantasy…”
But by then they were long out of range of the dark auburn haired boy who had inspired their conversation. That boy was complaining to Brendan.
“They only gave me ten hours this week.”
“Don’t complain.”
The boy shrugged, and then stood at attention. “New customers.”
Brendan grinned and said, “Welcome to Martins, how is your day?”
“Fine, thank you,” the new customer said.
“We’re all so happy here!” the bag boy murmured behind Brendan, who nudged him, sharply and said to the old woman before him:
“Do you have any coupons?”
“No.”
“Alrighty,” Brendan nodded and the bag boy poked him and mouthed, “Alrighty.
“Who was the funny guy who just left?” Brendan’s bagger said out loud as he dodged the other boy’s kick. Diligently, he separated the cans from everything else as the produce came down the belt. Some people didn’t know how to bag at all. They just threw crap in.
“Oh… that was Fenn Houghton. Runs the playhouse near downtown. Ah… goes to Saint Barbara’s, so you should know him.”
“My family goes to Saint Agatha.”
“Oh, really? Well… You know Layla?”
“Lawden? Yeah. She’s seeing Will Klasko, right?”
“Yeah. Will that be credit or debit?”
“Debit.”
“All right. Swipe your card, please. Do it hard and quick, the machine’s been having some trouble today.
“Right, with Will Klasko. Anyway… that’s her uncle.”
“Oh…I thought I’d seen him.”
“Do you want cash back?”
“No.”
“Alright ma’am.” To his bagger: “You’ve probably just seen him at the store, Kenny.
“You saved twenty dollars by using your Martins card, and earned 15 gas points. Have a great day.”
“Do you ever feel like a loser?” said Kenny.
“Wha?” Brendan found the question suddenly offputting.
“I mean the whole, welcome to Martins… having to memorize everything, the whole script.”
“Having to memorize everything and the whole script pays my car insurance and lets me be able to take Dena out. ”
“I guess, but it just seems like they don’t pay us enough to remember all that.”
“Honestly,” Brendan said, “I don’t even think about it. Except with someone like Fenn Houghton. You know, people who are sort of… real. They really are talking to you. So you really do have to talk back. Which is cool… But it makes it harder, makes you stumble over yourself a little bit.
“Will that be credit or debit?”
“I know,” Kenny said as new food came down the belt. “But that’s the worst part. For me. I mean, not even thinking about it. That’s what I mean by they don’t pay us enough. To just be nice, to just smile on cue. To just… There’s something wrong about this sh—”
“Stuff,” Brendan said.
“Sir, you saved thirty dollars and earned forty gas points.”
He turned around and told Kenny, “Keep slipping up like that, and you’re going to earn unemployment.”
“Would it be wrong if I didn’t go to Dena’s birthday party? Todd said.
“Uhh,” said Fenn, who was deeply engrossed in clipping his toenails on the other side of the bed, “in all honesty, since you’re a grown up, it probably won’t matter.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“There are probably too many adults who are going to be there any way,” Fenn said. “Personally, I think Nell went overboard.”
“Did you know Kevin will be there?”
“Oh,” said Fenn. “Really?” Then he said, “Why?”
“Nell says Dena wanted it that way.”
“Well, then Dena wants grown ups I guess. I guess she’d want you.”
“She brought you up too,” Todd added. With a teasing smile he said, “She seems to think you’re fun or something.”
Fenn cracked a toenail, and he tossed it at Todd.
“I have no idea why,” he said.
“Oh, you’re so gross.”
“It’s just a toenail. Can I guess,” Fenn asked, putting down the clippers, “that the reason you’re so put out with this party is that Kevin Reardon will be there?”
“Of course that’s the reason,” Todd said. “I don’t want to see him.”
“I don’t want to see him either. I remember the first time I met him. It was at Nell’s wedding and he was talking about the sins of sodomy.”
“How ironic is that?”
“And then Tom says to him, ‘Well, you know we’re a couple?’ And that’s when Kevin looks at me with this real, real toothy smile. I’ll never forget it. And he starts shaking my hand. He says: ‘We can still be friends because the Bible says hate the sin but love the sinner.’”
“I don’t remember all that,” Todd said. “I was still a kid. I do remember…” Todd screwed his face up, “He shook your hand and screamed.”
“Yes,” Fenn nodded.
“That was because after he said that, I stabbed him with my steak knife.”
Later on Todd admitted: “The same thing fazed me too. You know, I was at the grocery store, too, and this kid calls me sir. This was right out of college. I was twenty-three. He said, ‘Thank you sir,’ and it sort of crushed me. I started asking everyone how old I looked.”
“I remember that,” Adele said. “I just didn’t know what all brought it on.”
“That damn kid!” Todd said as Noah and Paul put away the food.
“Can I talk to you?” Noah said to Paul as he was handed the bread.
“When?”
“Like now. Like as soon as possible.”
“Cool.” Paul was about to put the Doritos away when Todd called:
“Are those Doritos?”
“Um hum.”
“Sweet! Send em over here.”
“You never get Doritos,” he said to Fenn.
Paul hummed to himself and sang, “Told you so.”
Fenn just scowled as Paul tossed the bag toward them.
“You know what I noticed?” Fenn said.
“That you should always get Doritos?” said Paul.
“Well, yes, Paul, I guess I’m noticing that, now. But what I noticed before, about all of those teenagers…?”
Todd, his lips cheesy, raised an eyebrow, waiting.
“By the time you’re thirty, they’re all your age again, and no one’s calling you sir. I mean, Todd, after all, at one point in time I was a grown up, and you were one of those teenagers.”
Todd laughed and said, “Hot damn, you’re right?”
“How long have you known each other?” Noah asked.
“Me and his sister grew up together,” Adele said. “Well, I guess me and Fenn and his sister.”
“And Todd was this snot nosed kid who just used to tag along,” Fenn added, stealing a chip.
“I was never snot nosed.”
“He used to eat his own snot!”
“Now, that’s a gross libel!” Todd threw a chip at him.
“It’s gross,” Fenn said, “But not such a libel. Is it?” he turned to Adele.
She shook her head and laughed.
“I do remember,” Todd said, raising a finger, “being an extremely cool high school student.”
“Well, by then we were all grown, anyway,” Adele said. “I’m talking about childhood. Or, specifically, your childhood.”
“Your snot nosed childhood,” Fenn grabbed his nose.
Todd feigned a frown and Fenn said, “But I love your snot nose.”
Brendan frowned again and put his key in the ignition, turning hard.
Again the engine roared, coughed, squealed and died.
Brendan was about to twist the key again when Kenny stuck his head in the car and said, “You can abuse it all you want, I don’t think it’s gonna happen today. You don’t have jumper cables to do you?”
“No,” Brendan said.
“Well, neither do I. You want a ride?”
“I live near Edgefield.”
“Cool. That’s not far out of my way.”
Brendan climbed out of the car, inquiring: “Do you need gas money?”
Kenny laughed. “I don’t need anything from you, but for you to get in the car.”
“So whaddo you do for fun? How come I never see you?”
“Well, aren’t you in the cool crowd?” Brendan said.
Kenny laughed.
“There isn’t a cool crowd.”
“Yes, there is,” Brendan protested. He listed on his fingers, “You’ve got all the folks who are in physics and AP classes and work on the newspaper and quiz bowl and the swim team. Maybe water polo.”
“That’s a big group. A lot of people do that.”
“No,” Brendan disagreed. “I mean that’s one group of folks. And then you got everyone in band and choir.”
“That’s you.”
“Pretty much. And the folks that do all the plays and the art classes. And then there are all the sports nuts.”
“I am not a sports nut.”
“You’re on the Lacrosse team. And you do track and field. That’s like what all the majorly cool folks do.”
Kenny cackled and pointed ahead, “That’s the beginning of Edgefield.”
“I live off of Callahahn.”
“Oh, okay. Then that makes you one of the rich crowd!”
“Shut up.”
“Hey, if you’re gonna make fun of me I can make fun of you.”
“I’m not making fun of anything. I’m just telling the truth.”
The light turned red.
“So,” said Kenny, striking a pose. “Does that make me cool? Do I look cool right now?”
Brendan snorted.
“Right now you just look goofy.”
“So, what’s up? Whaddit you wanna talk about?”
“Well,” Noah said, “I was gonna go see my mom for a few days.”
“Great,” said Paul.
“And then I was thinking about… I don’t know, getting out of here.”
“What!”
“See,” Noah said, “You’re loving this place. You never really wanted to be a pornstar.”
“And you did? I can’t imagine anyone does.”
“Some folks love it,” Noah said. “Didn’t it… Didn’t it make you feel alive? Didn’t it make you feel on edge?”
“Yeah, sure,” Paul said, jamming his hands in his pockets. “It was like being on smack.”
“Well,” Noah said, “yeah. The whole, I’m gonna fuck someone, or get fucked. On camera. I’m going be seen. There was just… something…”
“Naughty about it.”
Noah looked up at Paul and smirked. “Naughty is taking a lollipop from the corner store. This was… Paul, you gotta admit, there was something flat out high about what we did.”
“And now?”
“You fit in. You found Fenn. You’re acting at the playhouse and shit. This is your home.”
“It’s your home, too, Noah.”
“I need to do something exciting again.”
“Like what?”
“Like make another movie.”
