The Manaverse

Granite City Grocer

Granite City

Kyle Jaxon wiped the sweat from his brow, feeling it sting his eyes. He had just finished setting the last cans of green beans on the shelf and dropped his cardboard into the trash cart. Completing aisle five never felt so good. It was almost time.

He ran his fingers through his strawberry-blonde hair, contemplating his next task. Running the freight crew at the local grocer had become a science for him over the last five years, and he took pride in what his team could accomplish. Just as he was about to head to aisle seven to check on the newbie, a voice caught his attention.

“Jut, man, killed five already?”

“Diggy, how many times have I told you not to call me by my gamer tag at work? And yes, five is finished.” Kyle scowled as he stuck his hand out to the other worker.

Daniel Digsby and Kyle performed their secret “bro handshake,” hands waving, bouncing, and performing various gestures before ending with a snap.

Kyle considered himself average in height and build. He could easily see over Diggy, who was nearly a head shorter. Despite his lack of height, Diggy was the team member Kyle relied on the most. Diggy was fast, accurate, and well-mannered, even if he was a little on the heavy side.

“Ah, come on, man. We all play. Why does it matter if there aren’t any customers around?” Diggy whined his usual question.

“We never know who’s around, Digs. And while you don’t care who knows that you’re a level one hundred and seventy Warrior on Prime, I do,” Kyle explained as he did every freight night.

“But why? You’re the best Shaman on the server, dude. The golden standard for support players. You should have pride in that.”

“Having the best uptime statistics in combat and rotation doesn’t pay the bills, Digs.” Kyle sighed. “How we lookin’?”

“Lame.” Diggy deadpanned. “Fine. Aisles three and eight are left with Jo slacking on seven.”

Diggy was interrupted by a feminine voice from aisle seven. “Hey! I’m above target!”

“Maybe by company standards,” Diggy jabbed. “Anyway, Marvin is starting aisle two, and Sandy volunteered to do pet and essentials. Overall, we are ahead of schedule.”

“That deserves praise as the best support,” Kyle said reverently. “I hate essentials. Very good, Digs. I’ll head upfront to run the registers after the break. Speaking of...” Kyle pulled out his radio and broadcasted over the speakers. “Break time, crew. Good hustle. Take thirty, then back to it.”

Loud thumps could be heard from various aisles as the crew stopped to get food. Diggy and Kyle made their rounds to ensure all equipment was tucked safely off to the side while the crew made purchases and relaxed in the back.

“Are you going out for drinks with everyone?” Diggy asked as they were about to ring out food for themselves. “It would be great for group cohesion.”

“You guys still do that?” Kyle complained.

“Do we still do the tradition you and I started our first week on night crew? Hell yeah, man. I still don’t understand why you don’t come anymore.”

Kyle gave Diggy a flat look. Diggy threw his hands up in mock defense.

“I’m not the one who decided to diddle the server and it ended badly,” Diggy said quickly. “Besides, the sea witch doesn’t work there anymore. Didn’t I tell you?”

Kyle rolled his eyes and let his shoulders sag. “I don’t think it’s professional for the boss to drink with the crew. But I don’t have anything going on tomorrow.” Kyle hesitated but then nodded. “Okay. I’m in.”

As the pair walked to the back, Diggy cheered and danced, finally getting Kyle to say yes. Kyle shook his head but ignored his friend’s antics as they entered the break room.

“Think we can play after?” Kyle asked.

“Shit, man. I can’t. After drinks, I have to help my sisters and mom do an earthquake drill.”

“Another one? We haven’t had an earthquake in a decade,” Jo said in a huff. “After drinks?”

Marvin smacked the table happily. “Did you get Kye to say yes?”

“Sure did, homie. Sure did,” Diggy confirmed. Both Marvin and Sandy cheered, while Jo still looked confused.

Kyle sat and began unwrapping his ready-to-go meal. He looked at Jo. “The crew used to go out for drinks after every freight night.”

“Used to, until this stick in the mud stopped going. We still go after every freight night,” Diggy protested, gesturing to Marvin and Sandy.

“Really?” Jo asked, sitting forward. Her short, dark hair swished as she did. “No one ever told me that.”

Marvin, his Asian features pulling back into a grin, laughed. “You gotta pass the test first. As you’re still here tonight, you passed. We’ll cheers to that later.”

Sandy, the busty blonde who’d been on the crew the longest besides Kyle and Diggy, laughed too. “Oh, come on, guys. She does better than Fred on his best days.”

Everyone except Jo groaned.

“Why bring up that dill hole?” Marvin asked.

“Fuck that guy,” Diggy added. “We still can’t get the stain from his last little episode to come up on aisle twelve.”

Trying to avoid the conversation falling into another twenty minutes of “Fred bashing,” Kyle asked Diggy a question. “Why are you doing an earthquake drill?” Kyle knew Diggy’s mom. She did appear paranoid at times, but this seemed extreme.

Diggy shrugged. “She says she feels like it’s needed. That we never know when one will hit.”

Kyle rolled his eyes again. “We shouldn’t even have earthquakes here. We’re too far from any fault lines.”

“Tell that to the seven-pointer we had,” Diggy said.

“That was a decade ago,” Kyle reiterated. “It should have been impossible then, let alone now.”

“Tell that to the ‘fault line,’” Marvin teased. “It might not listen to you, boss man.”

“It’s literally science, bro,” Kyle retorted.

“Not this again, Kye. Let it go,” Sandy said.

“Let what go?” Jo asked.

“Kye is stuck on the fact that we’ve had tornadoes and earthquakes here. But no matter how much he protests, it doesn’t change the fact that they happened,” Sandy teased, tapping Kyle’s shoulder playfully.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kyle said before taking another bite. He learned long ago that you don’t fight the teasing or it gets worse.

“He’s right, though. At least based on the science we were taught in junior high,” Jo said, her face completely serious. “Granite City and the surrounding area are just hilly enough that tornadoes shouldn’t be possible. The nearest fault line is so far away we shouldn’t feel the tiniest tremor, even if it’s the worst quake in history.”

The room fell silent. Diggy, Sandy, and Marvin all looked disbelieving, while Kyle had the first genuine smile the crew had seen in months.

Marvin smacked Kyle’s back. “Looks like you found another weirdo, boss.” An alarm blared from Diggy’s phone, and Marvin continued. “And with that, it’s time to get back to it.”

Everyone cleaned up and made their way out to the floor. Jo lagged behind, walking with Kyle.

“So, you think it’s strange too, huh?” Jo asked quietly, so only Kyle could hear.

Kyle nodded. “You mean the fact that the laws of nature we were taught are wrong? Yeah. I do.”

They walked a bit more in silence, each dwelling on it.

“It must be aliens,” Jo said, smiling widely.

Kyle actually laughed. “You know, it just might be. Let me know if you run into any problems.” He tipped his head toward where Jo had been working before the break. Taking the cue, Jo nodded and went back to work.

“Will do, boss.”

Kyle walked up the center aisle. He was almost to the self-checkout he would operate for the next few hours when Diggy poked his head around the corner.

“Don’t be a bitch. Ask her out this time, Jut.”

“We’ll see. Get going.” Kyle made a shooing motion at Diggy, who laughed and retreated. Kyle wasn’t in the right mind space to even think about her. He wanted to get the displays on the ends looking nice before the next rush hit, so he grabbed the control pad to the registers and got back to work.

Kyle really liked helping customers. He hadn’t done so consistently since he was a bag boy wrangling grocery carts. Instead, he had moved to the back end crew at eighteen, then to the night crew at twenty-five. His customer service interactions died after that.

Now, for a few hours a week, he was allowed to chat, help the early risers, and even flirt a bit with customers. It breathed a new joy into his job he hadn’t known was missing.

For a while, he gave orders remotely and helped a few of his regulars. He let himself slip back into the flow, letting time escape him.

Kyle was so wrapped up in it that he didn’t notice more and more people flooding in around five-thirty, as usual. He was shaken to awareness by delicate fingers waving in front of his face.

“Mr. Jaxon.”

Standing by the nearest register was a blonde woman. She came up to Kyle’s shoulder, and her hair went down to her waist. Her dress suit was grey with a matching skirt. Too many buttons of her top were undone, and she was smiling brightly. Kyle didn’t notice the latter.

“Oh. Ms. Blackwell. Another six o’clock meeting?” Kyle could feel his face heat. Juliana Blackwell always got his blood up. She was just so beautiful.

“Every Tuesday. And now Fridays. I told you to call me Kit.” As usual, she had a box of doughnuts and three coffees.

“I know...but...” Kyle faltered when Juliana looked back at him. He nearly fell into the grey pools she turned on him. The red of her lipstick was sharp and bright, threatening to swallow him whole. “Do they reimburse you for all this or what?”

Still smiling stiffly, Juliana nodded, her hair swaying gracefully. “Yeah. They give me a card to use. It just sucks to have to leave that much earlier to get everything.”

“Oh. That would suck. But at least you don’t have to pay for it...” Kyle said, smiling back. The silence afterward became awkward as the two just looked at each other, neither brave enough to speak. To avoid that feeling, Kyle let his mouth spew the first words that came to mind. “Did you manage to catch the shower?”

Juliana’s eyes widened in relief. “Oh, I did. It was beautiful. Thanks for telling me about it. Too bad you had to work...” She trailed off pointedly.

“Yeah...well, someone had to.” Kyle said stupidly. He was already kicking himself for not knowing what to say next. He handed her the receipt that printed out of the register. “I hope you have a wonderful day at work.”

“Yeah. You too. Don’t work too hard...” Juliana waved awkwardly and began walking out with her purchase.

Kyle hesitated, watching her go for a long moment. He only ran after her when he heard Diggy cough from the aisle.

“Wait... Juliana.”

The smile on her face was dazzling as she turned back to him. “Yes, Kyle?”

Almost forgetting what to say, Kyle rubbed the back of his neck and stammered. “Well... I know you work all week...”

“Yeah?” She asked quickly.

“But...on Sunday morning, we plan to go out for drinks after our shift...”

Juliana was still smiling, but she cocked an eyebrow at him. “Who serves booze on a Sunday morning?”

“Well, we know a place not too far away. I was wondering if you...you know...wanted to go with us?” His heart nearly stopped in the less-than-one-second it took her to respond.

“I would love to. Should I be here at seven?”

“Uh...um... Yeah. That would be perfect. See you then?”

Juliana nodded, and with skill he could never match, she pulled a card from her jacket and handed it to him while juggling the items she had bought.

“I’ll be here. My numbers are on there. Send me more details?”

“Yeah. Will do.” Kyle nodded, taking the card. He stood there, still staring long after she had gone.

Diggy broke him back into reality again. “You know she comes in looking like that just so you’ll ask her out, right?”

Kyle shook his head. “Nah. She just wants to look good for work. Speaking of...”

“Yeah, yeah...” Diggy whined and walked back to the aisle again. Kyle did not hear him as he walked away. “A girl doesn’t start wearing skirts and makeup like that for work when she’s never done so before.” He shook his head, chuckling as he glanced at his thick friend. “She’s been a regular for years, dumb ass.”

The last few hours passed quickly, and the crew all shuffled out to their cars just after seven.

“You didn’t drive, Kye?” Jo asked as they walked to Diggy’s car. She had parked her truck next to the coupe. Martin and Sandy were already hopping into their vehicles.

“Never do. I don’t live far. It’s a waste of gas.”

“How are you getting home?”

He shrugged. “I’ll walk.”

“Kyle is crazy like that. Come on. Drinks await!” Diggy cheered, hopping into his car. Kyle followed, and they took their place at the end of the string of cars waiting to exit the lot.

Kyle allowed himself to geek out and talk fanatically about the online game they played together. It had been too long since he had.

Diggy only shook his head and laughed when he looked into the rear view just before they turned. He could make out a box of doughnuts and three coffees sitting next to the homeless man who made camp around the corner of the store. He loved being right.