Page 164 - Demo
P. 164


                                    2525 Redefining Americaanother anymore. That was one of the side effects of lean living. We used to play games together. Now my parents yell about money, and when they aren%u2019t doing that, we are quiet. I walk, wondering if there%u2019s stuffing anywhere in the mall.My second Black Friday, our store was doing pretty well, so there was a commission. You got something like 2.5 percent of all of your sales. It was a big deal for us on the floor. That was when Wendy was sales lead. Which meant she had the highest sales goals. That year she%u2019d brought in a pie for everybody. I made sure not to eat any of it because I don%u2019t eat anything anybody tries to shove down my throat, and she couldn%u2019t stop talking about the pie. %u201cWe can have Thanksgiving in the store! It%u2019s homemade.%u201d Everybody was saying how nice she was, how thoughtful. Then Wendy and I were the only ones who didn%u2019t have the shits all day.Who knows what she put in the pie. I made it my mission to beat her. And I did. I squashed her. Maybe it was because, thanks to her biological warfare, I had shoes, graphic tees, hats, plus denim to cover while she was stuck in PoleFace%u2122. Maybe it was because winter was warm that year. Maybe it was that I%u2019m the greatest goddamn salesman this store has ever seen and ever will see. But I squashed her. I%u2019ve been lead ever since. Wendy was gone by New Year%u2019s. I put the extra commission money toward some controllers for my GameBox.I make it to the food court where the smell of food wafts over the stench of the freshly deceased like a muzzle on a rabid dog. There are survivors, champions of the first wave, pulling bags stretched to their capacity. Using the last of their energy to haul their newly purchased happiness home. And there are the dead, everywhere. I get two dollar-menu burgers, a small fry, and a drink from BurgerLand. The man at the cash register has seen so much and had so much caffeine that I have to remind him to take money from me. Even as he takes it, he 40%u201cYeah,%u201d he says. A young man in a white T-shirt staggers toward us. %u201cGrrrrr,%u201d he says. He%u2019s gnawing on something. I move to sling him one of the SlimStraights in his size%u2014he thinks it%u2019ll make him popular at school%u2014but stop because of how quickly Duo tosses the right kind of jeans to the customer, who takes them and limps to the register.%u201cYou understand them?%u201d I ask.%u201cNow I do,%u201d Duo says. He kicks at a tooth that%u2019s lying on the ground. Then he shows me a small bloody mark in the space between his thumb and forefinger.%u201cThat%u2019s Black Friday.%u201d%u201cThis is my first.%u201d%u201cWell, the worst part is done,%u201d I say, kind of smiling, trying to see where he%u2019s at.%u201cI don%u2019t know,%u201d he says.%u201cYeah,%u201d I say, and continue on toward the register.%u201cMy break is after yours,%u201d Duo says. That%u2019s retail for Hurry up, I%u2019m hungry.I punch my username and password into the computer, and Richard bows down to me like I%u2019m to be worshipped. Angela nods at me like a proud mama. While I%u2019m gone, Angela will take my spot in the PoleFace%u2122 section. It%u2019s the lull, so she can handle it.Outside the store, the Prominent is bloody and broken, so I can tell it%u2019s been a great Black Friday. There are people strung out over benches and feet poking out of trash bins. Christmas music you can%u2019t escape plays from speakers you cannot see. Christmas is God here.I%u2019m hungry. My family didn%u2019t really do the Thanksgiving thing this year%u2014which felt like arelief except I missed my chance for stuffing. I%u2019d offered to help with some of the Shopping. My mom had lost her job. I make $8.50 an hour, but I saved. Mom, Dad, sister, me. But then we skipped the whole thing because we don%u2019t really like one 3035What does paragraph 39%u2019s information about the narrator%u2019s home life add to your understanding of him?33Copyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.
                                
   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168