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Red salsa covered the floor in what looked like the aftermath of a brutal massacre.
It was at that moment the woman attempted to get out of the way, and she slipped.
“Are you okay?” I asked, pushing the cart that wasn’t mine behind me. “Let me help you.”
The woman must have realized I was young, because she immediately went into mom-mode. “No, no. I’m okay. Stay back, because there’s a lot of glass here.”
I started moving backward, noting that several employees had walked up. One of the employees held up a walkie-talkie and spoke into it, while another tended to the woman on the floor.
“Ma’am, are you alright?” the employee asked.
That was all I heard before I made it halfway down the aisle, turned around, and moved quickly in the opposite direction. I moved down two more aisles, came out the opposite end, and noted that the manager had joined in to help.
Relief swept through me.
My eyes shifted, went to the exit, and that’s when I saw Archie and Garrett walking out.
Another job done.
I made my way out the opposite exit, rounded the corner, and crossed the street. I caught up with the guys and the three of us didn’t speak as we made our way back to the abandoned house we’d been staying in for the last four months.
Only when we were there did we dare to talk.
“We can’t go back there,” I said, as I opened the jar of peanut butter.
“Yeah, that guy was watching us from the minute we walked inside,” Archie noted, opening the bread.
Grabbing the plastic knife we had in the kitchen, Garrett stated, “We’re lucky Hanna is so good at what she does. Nobody causes a distraction like you.”
I smiled at him. “I didn’t mean for it to go down the way it did, though. That poor woman was covered in salsa and soda.”
“Maybe, but it worked,” Archie reasoned. “At least we can eat now. God, I’m starving.”
“Me too,” Garrett agreed.
For the next few minutes, we made ourselves some food and ate ravenously. It had been too long, and there was something about getting ourselves to this point that was always unsettling. It hadn’t happened in a while, since Garrett had been working, but with him getting sick and being unable to make any money for just over a week, things got difficult.
It wasn’t until after we sufficiently stuffed ourselves and got wrapped up in our own separate sleeping bags that we spoke. “This is getting old,” Garrett said.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m sick of constantly never knowing if we’re going to be able to eat,” he said. “I was sick for just over a week, and we had to go for days without food. We can’t keep living like this.”
“We’ll figure it out, man,” Archie assured him.
“Yeah, Garrett, this isn’t your fault,” I insisted. “Archie and I are trying to figure out how we can try to make some money, too.”
There was a long stretch of silence before Garrett mumbled, “I’m not going to live the rest of my life like this. Surviving off the bare minimum. Something’s got to change.”
I couldn’t say I disagreed with him. The way we were living now wasn’t a great long-term plan. But as soon as Archie and I could find a way to bring in some money, we’d all be much better off. We just needed to stick it out.
“It’s going to be alright, Garrett,” Archie promised. “We’re going to get through this. As long as we stick together, we’re going to be fine.”
I smiled.
Wrapped up inside my blanket, I couldn’t stop the grin from growing.
Because he was right.
