"Your total is five dollars and eighty-five cents, ma'am. Would you like a bag?"

"No, thanks, I'll carry it out."

Anne took the woman's money and doled out the change. She'd been working in a rural gas stop off route 86 for a few years now. She liked it. She got to see many different types of people all day long...truckers with big mustaches and heavy tattooed biceps, harried mothers shoving lollipops into their childrens' mouths to shut them up, angry teenagers with their pushy parents. It was great material for her writing. Her manuscript was finished, actually. She was going to drop it off after work. It was a story about love and intrigue set in--

"Miss? Miss?" An annoyed voice broke into her thoughts. There was tall, emaciated-looking girl with sunken eyes and stringy hair in front of her. She couldn't have been more than twenty. The hard angles of her hand were doing drum rolls on the countertop. Anne realized she'd been daydreaming again. She murmured her apologies quickly, ducking her head to hide her blush.

"May I help you, ma'am?"

The girl coughed. "A pack of Kools." Her voice was scratchy, as if she hadn't used it in a long time, or was a chain-smoker. Anne turned to get her a pack and noticed the carton was empty.

"I have to apologize again, ma'am, I seem to be out of Kools. Would you mind waiting a moment while I got some from the storeroom?"

The girl shrugged non-committally and Anne hurried off to get the cigarettes.