The Showdown

I had not mustered my courage, but I was back at Goodwill a few months later, armed with a list reading "red sweater". Have I mentioned what a large Goodwill this is? It would take up to 3 or more hours if one were to briefly glance at all of the clothing, and have no thought about them at all. Easily 5 or 6 if one was to contemplate buying anything. I usually get through about 5 racks before I em exhausted. My list did not embolden me.

So I prayed, 'O Dear Lord, if I don't find a serviceable red sweater in a half hour, please give me the stamina to leave and not waste my time lolly-gagging. Amen.'

Needless to say, I found a red sweater from New York and Company in about ten minutes. I smirked and, feeling so blessed, I decided to peruse the cassette tapes for new music. I found two: the soundtrack to "Empire of the Sun" (one of the three movies I own) and something from the 80s with a lady in a bright red leather jacket--how could I go wrong? (I have still not listened to the soundtrack, and the other tape was smooth rock of a nature so volatile that I ejected it and did not finish one song.)

The price sign above the cassette tapes said 50 cents.

I had overstayed my half hour by this point, so I hurried up to the register, and froze. One register was open. Oh yes, it was her. The whirring of the oxygen tank seemed to growl at me as I approached, cautiously.

'See me smiling?' I said nothing.

Red sweater. $3.99 RING!

Cassette tape. $1.00 RING!

Had I been moving, I would have stopped immediately. 'Why are you charging me twice the already outrageous amount for a worthless piece of technology?!' "Um..." I started.

The woman froze, mid-ring of the next tape and her head snapped up to stare at me. My stomach crawled up through my esophagus and lodged itself in my throat before I could utter another sound. The white-haired lady blinked, and scanned the next tape.

Cassette tape. $1.00 RING!

She stared at me as she handed over the plastic bag. 'That's for the so-called jacket you bought last time that was clearly a coat, and you still owed me for that dollar. Don't mess with me.'

I praised Jesus for delivering me from that pit alive.