Curly Kale
A short experimental piece of story-telling
a quiet moment the conveyor belt empty like an oasis in a sandstorm yet there they all are still trolley-pushing shuffling the aisles archaeologists searching for treasure some come armed with lists as if these were maps x-marks-the-spot others on autopilot or bustling randomly you get to know them the types especially when they find out you’re local or when you’ve smiled at them or helped with out with something unbarcoded when you’ve defused their embarrassment at having done a silly thing and they show their gratitude by seeking you out next time they come as if that’s what you want that kind of reward rather than this the empty belt a moment to yourself and two tills away cheryl’s quiet too supervisors hate inefficiency soon they’ll pull one of us off to go out back or stack shelves or take our break early always at their beck and call and for the first time in ages i notice the tannoy its tinny bark demanding assistance in aisle seven probably another bottle of sherry knocked from the shelf the whiff of oloroso can last longer than you think and you can always tell the guilty ones just as you can tell the ones ready to pay either they emerge from an aisle steely-eyed determinedly focussed on the tills or trolley already full they’ll be casting about for something they’ve missed panicking over walnuts or caster sugar list or no list and these things pinned to us are no help bright plastic rectangles into which our names have been routered gifting us to them to be addressed familiarly even without our permission sorry sharon love but i’ve picked one up without a label how much is it too much as it turned out there it sits by my till like a castaway awaiting rescue to be returned back to the shelf for a second chance or ditched in the charity bins out back cast away in fact and i think about tom hanks just for a second just long enough to miss the elderly couple heading to the top of my belt pausing apologetically as they take the first item from their trolley divesting themselves of it for just a few moments long enough for me to pick up the curly kale scan it then pass it back but even before then the training kicks in hello how are you looks a bit dismal outside