(498 Words)
At midnight, Dave and his teenaged cousin, Andy, hurried out of the downpour and into the corner store.
“Happy new year.” The clerk smiled.
“Happy new year.” Dave glanced down both aisles. No customers were here. “Open the cash register, or you’re dead.”
The clerk’s smile vanished as he pointed a pistol at her gut. Nearby, car horns blared and people shouted jubilantly.
“Now, lady.” Adrenaline pumped through his body.
Her hands trembling, the young woman complied. Outside, firecrackers exploded.
“Tape her like we practiced,” Dave told Andy.
“Please!” The clerk stepped back. “I won’t call the cops. I have a family.”
Andy raced around the counter. “Hands behind your back.”
Dave glanced over his shoulder then grabbed the bills. This would be his year. New career. Instant prosperity.
“On the floor,” Andy said, shoving the woman.
“Shit.” Dave removed the ringing cell phone from his pocket.
“Why didn’t you turn it off?” Andy taped the clerk’s ankles together.
“With a newborn at home? Lila would kill me.”
As he answered the phone, Dave scanned the store’s windows. “Sorry I missed the countdown, hon, but I’ll be home soon.” While his wife spoke, he reached for the coins in the register. “Can’t you wrap her butt in a towel or something?”
Dave looked down at the clerk. “You sell diapers?”
“No.”
He gazed at the windows and listened to Lila. “Two for one sale? Yeah, I know the place. See ya.”
Dave wished he could tell his wife to quit worrying about money. But if she learned about his new career she’d leave him for sure this time.
“Your co-worker won’t rescue you.” Andy slapped tape over the clerk’s mouth. “We found him having a smoke out back. Won’t come to for a while.”
Seconds later, Dave and Andy were cruising down the street in Dave’s Toyota. They saw no witnesses, no sign of cops. Dave breathed deeply to calm his nerves,then smiled. Launching a new career at midnight on New Year’s Eve was pure genius. Nobody wanted to buy stuff during the countdown.
Ten minutes later, Dave parked at the all-night grocery store Lila had mentioned. Andy stayed in the car, cranked up the music and counted their haul.
The diaper aisle was easy to find, but the huge selection of brands and sizes confused Dave. It took forever to find the two-for-one brand in the size Lila wanted. Finally he picked up the packages, turned to leave, then froze.
Guns drawn, two cops stood at the end of the aisle. Dave spun around. Two more cops blocked the other end.
“No way!”
He knew they hadn’t been followed. Neither the clerk nor her co-worker could have seen his car. He’d parked it half a block away from the corner store.
Dave scowled. “How?”
“The clerk’s husband wanted to wish her a happy new year,” the cop replied. “And she heard you talking on a cell phone.”
“So what?”
The cop grinned. “She has a baby.”
END
