I couldn't believe it, I wanted to yell at the lady in front of me, but I was trying to be polite. The sign on the register said ten items or less, but she had over twenty items and still putting things on the belt.
Finally, the manager up front noticed the same thing the rest of us had and started to help the cashier bag some of them to quicken the line.
I went through the line and purchased my items. As I was heading to my vehicle, a lady waved at me.
"Nate?" the lady said as she approached me. "Nathan Drayson?"
"Yes," I said as I looked at this petite woman approaching me.
"Kimberly Stracken," the lady said.
"No way," I said as I looked at her.
Kimberly was one of the girls I went to high school with. She was in most of my classes.
"Yes, I know, all grown up, right?" Kimberly said.
"Yes," I said.
"Well, you haven't changed, look at you!" Kimberly said.
"That's a lie," I said, noting my bald head and grey moustache.
"Well apart from that," Kimberly said. "What brings you back here?"
"I am overseeing the construction of a new building," I said as we got out of the way of passing cars.
I worked as a supervisor for a large construction company, and one of our projects was falling behind schedule and was going over projected costs.
'Ah," Kimberly nodded.
"And you?" I asked.
"Never left," Kimberly said. "I work, right over there," she pointed to a salon. "I know sad story, but the truth is, went to college, Mom got sick, came back home and never left."
I nodded. On the other hand, I left and, until this week, had no thoughts of returning to this dump. I even begged my boss to put someone else on this project. He said it was fun to see me squirm.
"Well, some of us still go to the old hang out, you should pop in and see us," Kimberly said.
"Same place?" I said.
"It's not an arcade anymore, they tore it down a few years ago and now it's a bar," Kimberly said.
"Ah," I nodded. Hoping that grown people weren't still hanging out in an arcade joint.
Kimberly walked away, and I watched as her blonde hair bounced as she walked away. That wasn't the only thing I watched as she walked away. "Still has it," I muttered to myself.
Kimberly was the one that got away, not that I ever tried to get her. She was part of the cheerleading and jock crowd, while I wasn't part of any groups, except for the bad crowd that always got into trouble. I was in detention and the councillor's office more often than most.
Over twenty years had changed this place. It wasn't the small-town USA that I had grown up in. Now it had more of a city feel to it. Gone was the open field next to the school. Now it was a strip mall with a Starbucks and a Subway inside. I remember we played pick-up football there at the end of school.
"Wow," I said as I passed what used to be old man Haggerty's field. I remembered running away from him one night as we had placed bets on who could run across it.
To this day, I still have a scar on my lower back from where the rock salt from his gun punctured my back.
Gone was the field with the cows and the barbed wire. Now it was an intersection. There never used to be a road there. To get to the other side, we had to drive the long way around Haggerty's property.
There were many changes, including my hotel. Where the hotel stood used to be a bike shop, we used to ride our bikes down there to get them looked at, plus we wanted to look down Ms' Toppan's shirt. She always wore these button flannel shirts that, when she leaned over just right, we could see down them.
I swear she knew what she was doing.
After I checked in and got settled, I called the contractors and told them I would be setting up a meeting first thing in the morning. I wanted in and out of this place as soon as possible. I had no plans on having a trip down memory lane.
Twenty years may have changed the city, but it was still the same to me. Our school was home of the cowboys for a reason. And I was no cowboy then and certainly not one now.
A few of my friends and I were the only minorities in a school of mostly country teens. We were made fun of daily; it wasn't how it is now where we could report what was happening and something would have come of it. No, we were alone. Even some of the teachers didn't want anything to do with us.
So, to say I had bad memories would be putting it lightly.
"Where is a good place to eat?" I asked as I went downstairs.
The lady behind the counter told me of a few good places, and I remembered the directions as I plotted a way to a local business she recommended.
'Fuck me,' I thought as I pulled up to the bar.
I should have known she would tell me about the bar Kimberly said they hung out. Maybe they weren't there. I thought to myself as I went inside.
As I entered, country music blared through the speakers, and I immediately wanted to turn back around.
"Nate! You made it!" Kimberly yelled.
She was dressed in a cowgirl outfit, complete with short jean shorts, a tied shirt and a cowboy hat.
"Don't mind the get up, it's part of the theme," she said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
'Like it couldn't get any worse,' I thought as she pulled me to the back of the bar.
I was met by some of the old gang, most of them were jocks from the past, and others I knew right away.
"Nate!" my old friend Joshua shouted.
"Josh!" I said, grabbing his hand as I sat down.
"What brings you back here?" was the first question.
Of course, after that, the ball got rolling. Most of them had either never moved or moved and came back.
Kimberly worked at the salon as well as this place. She had married Toby, and they had three kids. Two were out of the house, and they had one left to leave the nest. By the looks on Toby's face, he thought the child would never go. He was too much of a momma's boy.
I told them about myself. I went to college, found a job in construction and now was looking to make an assistant. If I did, it would end these stupid trips to God knows where. I would be set behind a desk and making decisions instead of just implementing them.
"So, no kids?" Debra asked.
She was one of the others I vaguely remembered from those days.
"Nope," I shook my head as I drank my beer. "Never been married, no kids." I nodded.
"Lucky bastard," Josh said as he shook his head.
He had told me he was on his third divorce and had seven kids. I told him he should have done what I did and fixed the problem immediately with a simple snip.
I knew I didn't want kids the moment I graduated from college. I saw what a few of my friends were going through and went straight to the doctors to ensure it would never happen to me.
"Man, it's good seeing you again," Josh said, shaking his head as he walked me to my vehicle. "Nice ride!"
"Rental," I nodded. "Job has it's perks."
"It shows," Josh nodded.
