A/N: This was an assignment in my English class. My teacher is a very hard grader, and gave me a 92. Some of my friends told me to put this up, so I did.
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I didn't realize how far away the goddam hotel was. It was getting dark out, and I could've sworn my fingers were frozen solid. I started to imagine what my life would be like if some of my fingers fell off, like in those phony movies. Those movies can really mess with your head. I wished I had my gloves, but that bastard back at Pencey stole them. Why the hell did he need them anyway? Most of the bastards at that school were rich, and I bet he could afford a pair of lousy gloves. I started getting really scared, wondering what would happen if my fingers came off and all. I shoved them in my pockets, but that didn't really help, so I went inside a Stop and Shop to warm up. It wasn't as warm in there as I expected. Grocery stores are never very warm. They always have that cold, moist feeling to them.
There was a guy outside the door, dressed up as Santa. He kept wringing this lousy bell, trying to get people to put money in this big jar. He kept saying that it would be for the greater good or something. It made me sick. The worst part was that he'd look at you funny if you didn't put any money in the goddam thing. But if you did put money in the jar, he'd give you this big phony smile, and thank you for helping god's children or whatever. I started thinking about those nuns back at the train station with their basket of money and all. I don't know why, since the sonuvabitch wasn't nearly as swell as those nuns. I really thought I was going to puke, so I went further into the store.
Everyone in the place looked like they were in a big rush or something. It was almost Christmas, so they wanted to get all their stuff. Every few seconds, you'd hear some shopping carts smash into each other. Then I passed by that weird section in the store. You know, the one called 'seasonal'. They always had some holiday stuff in there and all. But the funny thing was that they kept it there for a really long time. Even after Halloween, there'd be a bunch of goddam candy and fake pumpkins and all. But now it was full of Christmas stuff. I swear there were ninety people in that one aisle. It was overcrowded. It really was.
There was this one employee in the aisle, and he was yelling at all people there. But he wasn't being a bastard or anything; it was the shoppers that were being morons. They kept dropping and breaking all this stuff. There were so many broken Santa ornaments; it looked like a goddam massacre. I felt bad for that one employee guy, nobody was listening to him. He looked all worn out and worried. I kept walking. I was still cold.
Then I got to the freezer section. I don't know why the hell I was there, since the freezer section is the coldest place in the goddam store. There was hardly anybody there, except for this one guy who was re-stocking the shelves. He had on this pair of yellow rubber gloves. I don't get why people wear gloves when they're re-stocking the shelves. The food's already in packages, why do they need gloves? They're not gonna spread any germs on the food if it's packaged. I went up to the guy and asked him how come he was wearing gloves. He didn't answer me; he just looked at me funny. Even after I asked him if he wanted a drink, the bastard kept looking at me.
Finally I got sick of the place. I didn't care if I was still cold. I hated it; that stupid Stop and Shop. It was filled with morons and cheap bastards. When I got back outside, the guy who was dressed up as Santa was gone. Now there was a guy who looked like a priest. He was saying the same thing the Santa guy was, but he wasn't wringing a lousy bell or looking at anyone funny. The best part was, he didn't give anyone a phony smile. I didn't know if they guy was a real priest, but he looked pretty convincing. I felt kind of bad for him, because nobody was putting money in his jar. I gave him a dollar, figuring I had some dough to spare. As soon as the guy thanked me, I ran back to the hotel, hoping that my fingers wouldn't fall off.