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My customers come to the store because veggies are expensive. If you’re hungry, are you 5
it’s a happy place, and this community deserves spending that dollar on an onion, or on nachos
something good. I’ve got music blaring out front, with chili cheese? We were made more vulner-
always upbeat, drawing people in. I have candy able to this virus down here because of what section two
and cold treats for the kids that are out of school. we’ve had to deal with. Wearing a mask won’t
I’m running out of some things now that it’s protect us from our history. /
getting so tight. I’m low on rice and sugar, but All of us know people now who are sick, or
I hustle to fill this store. I say to my customers: worse. My mom was exposed and quarantined
“Tell me what you want and I’ll stock it.” They’re for two weeks. I had a guy in the store the other Burnell Cotlon
grateful for this place. But right now most every- day talking about how his sister was going on a
body coming into the store is terrified. They’re ventilator. We lost one of our customers a few
upset. They’re mad. The reality right now is this days ago, Mr. Lewis. He ran a free museum on
virus is hitting the black community harder. It’s black culture. Sixty-eight years old, and that’s
the same old story. that.
Life in this neighborhood is an underlying 15 There’s another lady who lived two blocks
condition: hard jobs, long hours, bad pay, no from the store. She’d been coming almost every
health insurance, no money, bad diet. That’s week since I opened, but she’d been having
every day. They have disabilities. They have a hard time. She lost her income and needed
high blood pressure, breathing problems, dia- groceries, so we started her on a tab. Then she
betes. Before I opened, this part of the city was caught the virus, and I delivered more groceries
a food desert. The easiest way to get fresh pro- to her porch.
duce was to take three buses to the Walmart in She died last week, and a few days later,
Chalmette. I gave free blood-pressure checks I went into the book to look at her tab. There
when I opened, and not because it was good for are a few accounts closing like that now, and
business. Cigarettes are a big seller. Candy and probably more coming. Hers was 72 dollars
cold drinks go quick. I tell people, “You only live and 14 cents. I found her name and drew a line
one life. You’ve got to look after it.” But fruits and through it.

Understanding and Interpreting

1. Reread the first two paragraphs of the narrative. What does Cotlon communicate about
himself and about how the pandemic has changed his neighbors?
2. Cotlon catches a woman shoplifting (par. 5). What does he do, and what do these actions
reveal about him?
3. What does he mean by “I’ve robbed Peter to pay Paul so many times that Peter’s got nothing
left” (par. 8)?
4. In paragraph 14, Cotlon says, “It’s the same old story.” Explain what he means by this as he
expands upon it in the paragraph that follows.

Analyzing Language, Style, and Structure

5. Vocabulary in Context. In paragraph 7, Cotlon says, “I let a customer float on credit.” What
does float mean in this context, and how is its use here related to other uses of the word?

Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample. 175
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.

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