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Kate smiled as she looked around at all of the other crazy people out here this early in the morning. The last time that she’d braved the day after Thanksgiving sales, it hadn’t been such an event; of course, that had been more than ten years ago. Back then they had started at a respectable hour and a body had had time to grab a decent breakfast first.
Hitting the Friday morning sale was actually her husband’s idea. He figured that she could go a little crazy and not have to worry so much about how much everything cost. He’d even come along, claiming that there were some things he needed to pick up. She knew how much he hated shopping, so she really appreciated the gesture. Thanksgiving had been rough; this was the first one she’d spent with just Ben in more than twenty years, and she’d taken it pretty hard. Her oldest, Bethany, was married to a soldier stationed in Germany. Normally she still would have made it home, but this year she was eight and half months pregnant and unable to travel. Her son Trent, in his third year in college, had stayed on campus to work on a final project that was due just after the holiday.
An alien landing in the parking lot would find it hard to believe that yesterday everyone was talking about Pilgrims and eating turkey. Everywhere you looked you saw splashes of red and green, and just inside the store employees were lined up, ready to thrust a savings card and a candy cane in your hand as soon as you went through the door.
At exactly 5:30am a store manager materialized in front of the big glass doors and unlocked pushed them open with an exaggerated flourish. She was swept up in the tide of holiday shoppers, toward the center aisle and the “early bird deals”.
An hour later she was laden with goodies and Ben was nowhere to be seen. Not that it would have mattered much; she had so much crap piled on that she couldn’t even see her own feet, let alone anyone next to or in front of her. Which is probably how she ended up flat on her ass in the middle of the floor empty handed a minute or two later. She sat there, dazed, as a burly man about her age -- that’s to say, middle aged -- scrambled to collect all her stuff before it got trampled or reclaimed by another holiday shopper. When he was done, he helped her collect the contents of her purse, which lay scattered around her as well.
“Sorry about that, ma’am,” he said in a pleasant drawl. “I don’t know where my head was at.”
“It’s my fault, I’m sure,” Kate corrected. “I was trying to carry too much anyway.”
He squatted down and looked into her eyes intently. He had an open, weathered, face, with a strong jaw and pale blue eyes. The hair at his temples was graying, and had the unkempt look of a bachelor’s. He grabbed her chin and turned her face toward him. His hands were rough – working hands, just like her husband’s – and she flushed a little, suddenly self conscious.
“Hold still. You took a nasty bump; I just want to make sure you’re alright.”
“Are you a doctor?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, but I’ve seen my share of concussions.” He studied her a little longer. “Looks like the spill didn’t do you too bad.”
“You should see my butt,” she quipped, and then realized how that must sound and flushed again.
He chuckled, and it was an easy, rugged sound. “I think I got your meaning.” He stood up and extended his hand. “Let’s get you out of the way before you get trampled by these crazy people.”
She let him help her to her feet. She swayed a little and he put a hand on her waist to steady her. The contact was brief but it made her uncomfortable – like somehow she was being unfaithful or something. It didn’t make any sense; heck, she’s the one that had gotten knocked over. Looking at the mountainous pile of stuff on the floor, she sighed.
“Here, let me help you to the register,” he offered.
She shook her head. “No, every man for him self today.” she smiled. “I’ll manage somehow.”
“Nonsense,” he dismissed, and grabbed the whole mess in his arms. “I’m done here anyway.”
That earned him a confused look. “Where are your things? Everything here is mine.”
He shrugged. “I can get what I want later. It’ll still be around.”
Since the truth was she welcomed the help, she didn’t protest any further. The line was already pretty long and he made no effort to surrender her purchases. As the line inched along he stood by her silently, content to leave her to her own thoughts rather than try to fill the time with meaningless small talk.
When Ben finally found her, he handed her stuff over to him without being prompted. Ben looked from him to Kate, the question obvious on his face.
“I’m Tom,” The stranger said after a moment of awkward silence.
“And you know my wife how?” Ben asked bluntly.
Tom looked a little sheepish. “I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was walking and ended up sending knocking her down. Figured the least I could do was see that she got to the register alright. Now that you’re here, I guess I should be getting on.”
“Yeah, maybe you should,” Ben said unkindly.
Tom didn’t seem to notice. “Y’all have a good rest of the day,” he said, then turned and set off back the way they’d come without waiting for a response. Ben looked at Kate who shrugged as if to say, “Don’t ask me, I just met him.”
The two of them talked about nothing the way longtime married couples do while they waited for the line to move. Ben had been right; the shopping HAD been a good idea. By the time they reached the actual register she was in a better mood than she’d been in in weeks.
As they collected their shopping bags and walked toward the glass doors Ben admitted that she’d even managed to spend less than he’d expected.
“So does that mean that I can go back and try again?” she joked as passed between the upright inventory control sensors. Suddenly, an ear-splitting siren went off. Kate saw that they were the only ones near the front doors and stepped back immediately.
A young woman in khaki pants and a hunter green blouse, the chain’s colors, materialized out of the crowd near the register and motioned for them to come over. Despite her age – Kate put her at least fifteen years her junior – she had an authoritative presence.
“She must have forgotten to scan something,” Kate said defensively.
“I’m sure everything is fine,” the woman assured her. “Could I just see your receipt please?” Kate fished around in one of the bags and handed it to her obediently.
The woman studied it for a bit, then removed everything and scanned it again just to make sure that all of the RFID tags had been deactivated. She handed Kate and Ben back their bags.
