Eleven to Seven
Monday
Daryl walked to his truck like a man going to his execution. It was hotter than the hubs of hell even though the Georgia sun had gone down hours ago. Close to eleven and he had better get a move on or he was going to be late for his new job.
Maybe his truck wouldn't start or maybe it would start and he could just start driving and not stop until he was in a new town and could start all over. Except he didn't have much money and Dale and Irma Horvath had let him stay in a little apartment over their garage. He did odd jobs around the place, kept the grass mowed and he owed them big time.
He was painting their front porch today when Dale came home at noon. Dale nodded at the work he was doing, "Daryl, I need to talk to you."
His heart sank and Daryl tried to brace himself for Dale telling him to pack his things and go. He'd been honest with Dale; he had come here because Merle was in a nearby prison serving a three year sentence for drug trafficking. He and Merle had just drifted around Georgia for ten years never staying long anywhere. He liked living here though. The apartment just one room with a bath but it was nicer than anyplace he'd ever had before.
Daryl raised his massive eyebrows at him, "Don't look like I just shot your dog. I've got an opportunity for you. I own a convenience store over close to the interstate. It's open twenty four/seven. Got a little diner in it but it is only open from six until ten at night. The guy I have working the eleven to seven shift fell off a ladder this morning at home. He's in the hospital and can't work for months. I would like you to take his place."
"I never did anything like that before. Wouldn't know where to start."
"I have someone who handles the register most of the time but you'll have to help out there when it gets busy. I need someone to fill the coolers, take out the trash, and do odd jobs around the place. Part of the night there is only two people on duty. Anyone might wander in there and I need someone there to keep Carol safe. I want you to do the job." Dale went on to tell him the salary which was way better than minimum wage and that he would have health insurance. Dale rattled on. Apparently Carol would be his boss. Merle would have a fit about that if he ever found out that a Dixon was being bossed around by a woman. Book of Merle. Chapter One. Verse One. Women were created for men to fuck and fuck over. Daryl suspected that Dale had never read that book.
What the hell else could he do? He told Dale he would do it. Show up out there at eleven tonight and keep the place safe for another night. He spent the rest of the day finishing the porch. Gray floor. White banister and columns. Irma had insisted that he would eat dinner with them. So he showered and shaved and showed up at their doorstep at dinner time. They are too trusting. Too good for this world.
Irma complimented him on his work clothes. Tan pants and a short sleeved blue checked shirt. Dale had showed up this afternoon with five sets of the uniform. The shirt was just a little big but that allowed it not to be too tight in the arms.
He thanked her for dinner and went home to watch television and worry about tonight. He was gonna fuck something up. All that gasoline was an inferno waiting to happen. Daryl would hit the wrong button and the place would blow or some shit. Too soon it was time to go.
Daryl was there at ten to eleven. He parked off to the side. There was an old beater already parked there. Looked like it wanted to die but didn't have the energy. There was a hell of a lot of lights around the place. No one was going to sneak in for sure.
He took a deep breath. He needed a job and he had one. Had a nice place to live. He could put up with some shit to keep those things. Might be able to save some money so that he and Merle could start over somewhere else when the state of Georgia got tired of putting up with Merle and threw him out of prison.
It was cool inside. To his right were the registers and beyond the registers he could see the wide doorway that led to the darkened diner. A skinny guy with a handle bar mustache and sad eyes nodded at him. Didn't look like he would be named Carol. The coolers lined the walls and there was a coffee machine in the middle. A few shelves with all that shit that nobody should eat. The bathrooms were on the left hand wall and a door opened and out came a skinny dark haired woman. Bet that's Carol. Pretty in an understated way. Short curly hair. Blue eyes. Great ass. Just okay in the boob department.
She caught him looking at her and he could feel himself turn red. She smiled at him, "You must be Daryl or you stole his clothes."
He nodded back. Talking was never his thing. "I'm Daryl".
"I'm Carol. Axel is leaving in a few minutes but we have time for me to show you what needs to be done. The coolers need to stay full." She led him to the back of the coolers. The beer and soft drinks were already there stacked along wall. Carol went on, "We'll be busy until two and then it's quiet until around five. Here's the thing. We get robbed we give them everything in the register. No macho bullshit. We give them the money and hope that is all that they want."
Axel introduced him to a skinny Asian kid name Glenn Rhee. This boy being the muscle seemed a little farfetched, but the kid shook his hand politely. Carol smiled at Glenn, "How was your shift?"
Glenn laughed, "Not too bad, better than delivering pizzas."
Glenn left promptly at eleven but Axel hung around a little longer to hit on Carol. Daryl thought that he ought to give them some privacy and he checked on the coolers.
Axel finally left and Carol gave him the evil eye, "Don't do that again. I'm not interested, but I can't leave the registers. So don't leave me with Axel." Got the message. This woman don't play.
It was time for a quick lesson on how to use the register. Carol took him through each step, "Don't worry. Most people pay for their gas by card anyway. We just watch to make sure they don't run off without paying. Most of the people coming inside at this hour want to use the bathroom, want a soda or coffee. Or they want to buy beer. I'll be here, but sometimes we get everybody at once. I need help then."
She let him run the register while she watched over the transactions. It wasn't all that hard. You swiped whatever they bought and made change. Carol never got ruffled even when he screwed up. She might be his boss but she wasn't bossy. He relaxed a little and the time went quickly until two o'clock.
Carol got a big book out from under the counter and made herself a large coffee. "Do you want some coffee, Daryl? Perks of the trade. Free coffee."
He was getting sleepy and a hit of caffeine might help. There were two coffee machine. One had all sorts of additions that you could add to your drink so that it didn't taste like coffee. The other one was straight java. Merle said only women and pansies drank lattes so Daryl had never drank anything but plain coffee which he had never liked all that well. He decided to add some creamer. He must be a pansy because the coffee tasted a hell of a lot better with the creamer. Next time I might try the other machine.
Two King counties deputies came swaggering in. They might be in some little town in the middle of Nowhere, Georgia but they had that cop strut like they were NYPD. They nodded at him and Carol introduced them. Tall lanky one was Rick Grimes. The tougher looking was Shane Walsh who tried to schmooze on Carol. She had that look that he already recognized as fake. Friendly enough and you wouldn't know it wasn't the real thing unless you saw her smile at someone she really liked. Like Glenn.
The two cops got some free coffee and sat down by the window. Carol read her book. Seemed like a good time to get some fresh air.
He took his cup and walked around outside. Little cooler now. He gathered the trash and washed down the concrete. Kept him busy for an hour. He could see Carol. She had taken her book to the row of booths that lined the outside wall after the cops left. She was underlining something and not paying attention and he saw how vulnerable she was here in this place by the interstate. And way too many men had read the Book of Merle. Maybe Dale had read it after all and that why he wanted Daryl to be out here.
Like that book he read in high school, "Catcher in the Rye." The kid in that was bat shit crazy but he loved his little sister. Wanted to protect her. Daryl looked at Carol again. She wasn't no kid and he wasn't Holden but maybe he could be her protector here. Probably better not announce that to her. Carol probably thought she could take care of herself.
Later he filled the coolers. Carol took a break from the book and cleaned the women's bathroom. His job was to clean the men's bathroom which wasn't all that bad. Of course, living with Merle had dulled his sensitivities to all kinds of messes. Around five they made new coffee. It was getting light outside when a large Black woman swept through the door. Carol smiled at her and Daryl saw right off that Carol liked this woman. Her eyes lit up and she called, "Good morning, Miss Sela".
Miss Sela favored Carol with a wide smile, "And who is that pretty boy by your side, Miss Carol?"
"That would be Daryl. Jimmy fell off a ladder and can't work. Daryl's taking his place."
Book of Merle. Chapter 2. Verse one. God created different races for a reason. If God wanted them to be all the same he would have made them the same. White is right and Black stays back. Don't look at them, look through them, Daryl. Don't play with them. Don't talk to them unless it's necessary.
Daryl kept silent but he saw the way Carol's face changed when she looked at him. The light went out of her eyes and her mouth tightened. Carol turned back to Sela, "So you feel like singing this morning?"
Sela gave him a cool look and turned back to Carol, "I always feel like singing. This morning feels like a gospel morning. I better get to work. Hungry people will be wanting those chicken biscuits." Sela headed for the kitchen.
People were stopping for gas and coffee now and they were busy, but the kitchen was next door and he could hear the Black woman sing. Something slow and sad. Carol said abruptly, "I'll be back in a minute." The staff refrigerator was in the storeroom and she headed that way. She came out with two bottles of Dr. Pepper and went into the kitchen. Stayed in there for a while and then went back to the registers.
Carol stared out at the gas pumps, "Sela's husband was killed in Iraq years ago. Her son is in Afghanistan. Her mother is dying of cancer slowly, inch by inch. Sela and her sister Sarah take turns being with their mother. When Sela sings sad songs it's because her mother had a bad night. No matter what she sings I take her a diet Dr. Pepper and talk to her every morning." She was pissed at him and he knew it. She hadn't read the Book of Merle. Hadn't grown up in a home where playing with the Black kids next door would win you a whipping with a belt.
"Running low on coffee." Time to change the subject. Time to think about something else than his father dragging him home that day. He hadn't been able to go to school for a week after.
"I'll make the coffee." She gave him an odd look. Like maybe what he was remembering showed on his face.
A tall thin Black woman came in and smiled at Carol, "Sela got the biscuits ready?"
Sela came out with a platter of chicken biscuits all neatly wrapped in waxed paper. Carol introduced Daryl to Jacqui. Apparently she came by every workday morning to drink coffee and have a chicken biscuit.
Selah handed Daryl a biscuit, "Enjoy, Daryl."
"Thank you, Miss Sela." Daryl bit into the most delicious chicken biscuit he'd ever had. "Damn, that's good."
Sela seemed to warm up a little at the compliment. "You got any gospel songs you like, Daryl?"
The Dixons need not hold to regular churchgoing. Or ever churchgoing. But Daryl didn't want to lose access to those chicken biscuits or piss Carol off again. Gospel music was just a radio station you passed by on your way to hard rock. His mind was blank and the Universe filled one in, "Amazing Grace, I like that one."
Sela beamed at him. "That's an awfully good one. I'll sing it for you. Did you know that the man who wrote it was once a slave trader? Got religion and became a priest. Worked against slavery. Thank you, Jesus". She lifted her arms up toward the ceiling. Apparently Sela was on a first name basis with the son of God. She went back to the kitchen.
Carol introduced her to Theo Douglass, "Theo brings us those pecan rolls. Only place you can buy them in town. We sell them out in a couple of days."
Theo smiled at her, "I'm leaving twice the amount and will be back in a couple of days. Isn't that Jacqui sitting over there? I'll just go over and say hello while I'm here. I'll pay for the chicken biscuit and coffee before I leave." The tall Black man grabbed a biscuit and a large coffee and hustled over to the booth that Jacqui was sitting in.
Carol smiled, "He used to get here around seven. Showed up early one day and met Jacqui. Now he comes in at six and always manages to find an excuse to talk to Jacqui."
Sela began "Amazing Grace" and the weird thing was that most everybody in the place sang it with her. Jacqui and Theo. Carol and the people paying for coffee and gas knew the song. The diner staff knew the song and they sang along. It was weird but it was like a good weird.
It was nonstop after that. The next crew came on board and he and Carol walked to their cars together. She was the proud owner of the beater. Daryl looked at it, "Hope it runs better than it looks".
Carol laughed and her eyes lit up, "It doesn't, but I have a first day present for you." She handed him a Theo pecan bar which had a smiling Black woman on the packaging. "Have a good day, Daryl and I'll see you at eleven."
He took it and thanked her, "See you later, Carol."
It was a beautiful morning. The sun had already pushed its way up far enough to start pushing the morning mists away. Daryl waited as Carol fired up her piece of junk and drove off. He watched her head back toward Kingsborough. Don't know why I'm standing here watching until she's out of sight. Not like I ain't going to see her again in sixteen hours. Eleven to seven Monday through Friday.
AN
So Daryl is a bit of a racist. Dodges cyber stones. No, he isn't a hater, but he's absorbed a little prejudice from Merle and his father and for the first time in his life he is on his own. He's a work in progress.
Carol and Daryl in a convenience store. I was driving by our local all-night convenience store late the other night and this story fell out. The location puts them together for a significant amount of time (eleven to seven) and there is an element of danger. Who knows who might drive up at any time? Not me because that would require me to know where I'm going with this.
Carol is the blank slate here. Daryl knows nothing about her and he hasn't fallen irretrievably in love with her…yet.
I threw in a ton of characters because I wanted to introduce them to the story and because they are the ones that Daryl remembered. People come and go at convenience stores so for a guy like Daryl it would be overwhelming the first night.
Sela was a character in "God Loves You When You Dance" and I like what she adds to this story. You might not get the "Amazing Grace" part but I'm telling you that if someone was singing that song in a Georgia convenience store at six in the morning at least half of the people in the place would be singing along.
Tell me how you really feel and I need a name for the convenience store. Help me out here.