Janie sat at work. She didn’t bother watching the clock. She knew it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. She still had hours to go and she knew that on such a beautiful, hot day, no one would be frequenting this part of town. She flipped through a couple pages of a book. It wasn’t very interesting. “Should’ve grabbed a different one,” she thought, “I knew this was trash.” She put the book away and stocked the shelves. “There goes a whopping twenty minutes,” she thought. She didn’t look at the clock. She rummaged through her bag for a mint. An older woman started to walk toward the shop. Janie felt relieved for something to do, some way to pass the time aside from a box of mints. As she watched the woman pass by the shop window, she sank down. Janie rolled her eyes, pointlessly. 

     She went back to her book. Her eyes scanned the words, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She daydreamed of sitting under a tree somewhere, with no one around, the warm breeze, plucking blades of grass. She reached over by the register, plucked a paper clip from the jar, and another. She smiled and put the book back in her bag. Janie filed her nails and thought of her sisters. “I wonder if Dana is still with that idiot…”, “I wonder if James and Stacey were still thinking of moving two towns over…. Seems silly to me, they have a nice house here…” Janie opened the door and eyed the bench three shops down. She felt the summer day combating the overbearing air-conditioning at her back. She went back inside and grabbed another mint, and decided to go relax on the bench. “No point in sitting in here all day, letting it go to waste,” she thought. “How nice is this? This is more like it…” and other such pleasantries crossed her mind. 

     She sat with her eyes closed. There was no one in this part of town. It was too nice a day. After what she supposed was a good twenty minutes she decided she’d better go check the shop, though she knew it would be as it was, chilly and empty. Goosebumps popped up on her arms and legs as the cold air depleted all the lovely warmth from outside. “There is nothing to do in here. I’ll eat my lunch outside,” she thought. She grabbed her lunch from under the counter and headed back toward the door. The phone rang. “You’ve reached Morten’s. This is Janie. How can I help you?” “Janie??? Where were you? I let the phone ring forever…. Are you busy?” “No, it’s been dead. What’s up?” “Oh crap. You just had to check in on things the one time I’m not sitting here,” thought Janie. “Why didn’t you answer the phone?! You need to answer the phone, in case a customer calls, Janie….” “I was using the restroom,” she lied. “Well, stay close to the phone in case a customer calls, OK Janie…..” “OK. I will Mike. Is there anything else that you needed?” “Just checking in,” and he abruptly hung up his end. Janie rolled her eyes, pointlessly. 

     She thought about leaving the door cracked, then she thought about the air conditioning. Janie started to unwrap her lunch at the counter. She sank down. She eyed the items in the store for something to put away, to wipe off, to more properly display. She wrapped her lunch up, took it outside, and let the door close behind her. She sat on the bench and ate slowly. “How nice is this? This is more like it…” and other such pleasantries crossed her mind.