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“’Scuse me, sir.”
I looked down and over at a young man that was dressed in a ‘Go Army’ shirt.
He was about fourteen or fifteen and looked like he was a Boy Scout of some sort based on the
pants and the loose hanging shirt that was over his Go Army shirt.
“Yeah?” I asked.
He gestured to the popcorn cans.
“Would you like to buy some popcorn?” he asked, his eyes on my eyes and not my scars.
“We’ll buy two,” Frankie declared upon seeing him not acting weird. After squeezing my hand,
she let me go and then walked over to the table I was unaware of stopping in front of. “How much are they?”
“Umm,” the kid said upon seeing the beautiful Frankie give him her full attention. “They’re f-
forty-five for the collector’s tins. Sixty-five for the box of bags of popcorn. Thirty-five for one giant-sized bag, and then twenty for the grab-sized bag.”
“Shewwww,” I whistled under my breath. “That’s a hefty price tag for popcorn, kid.”
He was already nodding his understanding.
“I agree.” He pointed at a box set up in the middle of Walmart’s main floor. “That white cheddar
popcorn right there is like, ten times better than our white cheddar. And about a fraction of the cost.
But, I’m forced to sell this stuff so that I can have my scout trips paid for. My dad’s not in the picture anymore, and I had to beg my mom to do it. And this is one of the ways that will help pay.”
That was a lot of information all in one sentence.
“All right,” Frankie whipped out her wallet. “I have enough cash to buy two of the small grab
bags.”
I pulled out my wallet, too, and handed the boy a twenty.
“Give us what we can get for that cash,” I ordered.
The kid was scrambling, and handed us our wares, then held out the last five dollars that wouldn’t
cover anything.
I gestured for him to put it into his donation box.
“Put it in there, kid,” I ordered.
The kid stuffed it into his box.
“T-thank you,” he said, swallowing hard. “Thank you for your service.”
My eyes met the kid’s who still hadn’t looked away.
“How’d you know I was in the service?” I wondered.
He shrugged.
