okay, okay...here goes...
“Why are you crying?” the stockgirl said. Michael hesitated, and then noticed that the box he had helped her push up onto the shelf was a whole case of cheerios. Again he heard the scared O speak:
“You’ll make them understand, Michael.”
“Umm,” Michael said, scrambling for an answer. He dropped the pack from his shoulder and pulled out a stained handkerchief. “My wife left me today, and you remind me of her. Sorry to bother you.” Micheal wiped his eyes, blew his nose sonorously, and turned away.
“Wait,” the chubby stockgirl said as he turned to leave. She was fidgeting with the piercing in her eyebrow and was looking down at the floor. “That’s about the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“Well, I meant it,” Michael said. “She was a good woman, but I’m a bad man.”
“I like bad boys,” the stockgirl said, still not looking up. She agreed to meet Michael outside the Shoprite after closing time. The plan was for them to go to an all night diner and get something to eat, but Michael had something else in mind.
Michael hid in the bushes outside the Shoprite. The chubby stockgirl headed for her Ford Pickup through the deserted parking lot. The moonlight bathed her pink mohawk in neon brilliance. Michael sighed, his eyes closed to savor the moment. It was so right.
He opened them to find a Cheerio-shaped cloud had floated over the moon.
Destiny calling, indeed.
The girl liked bad boys, she said. But Michael wasn't bad. Far from it. He only said that to get her sympathy. He would explain the truth later.
After he locked her in the trunk and tore ass east toward New York. She would understand. He was certain.
The Cheerio cloud confirmed what he already knew. The chubby shopgirl didn't know it yet, but together, they were about to change history.
