I’ve been busy writing, so I don’t have a more substantial post for you today. Busy writing is a good thing, so this isn’t an apology. Onward! Upwards!

And a snip from the WIP.

Nightlife

The convenience store clerk barely looked up when the bell on the door tinkled. He knew who it was from the smell. Not the ripe, feculent, aroma that went with a few of his customers. No, this one was dry like old leaves, with a musky dried-meat undertone. Out of his peripheral vision he saw the customer shambling towards the drinks cooler. Layers of clothing obscured what shape, if any, the person had. 

After a moment, the customer approached the counter, head hanging so that the clerk couldn’t have seen its face if he wanted to. A gnarled hand, pale as bone at the knuckles, pushed coins across the scarred glass. 

The clerk didn’t need to count them. 

“Thank you.” he said. “Have a nice night.” 

The customer was already shuffling towards the door, so the clerk wasn’t entirely certain if he heard the response correctly. 

“Have a dead night.” 

The clerk shook his head as he finished ringing up the sale of the grape soda. “Have to have been good night.” He muttered as he dropped the coins into their slots. At least this payment was clean, sometimes he got dirt and leaves with the coins from this customer. It was always coins. 

The customer took a right turn after the heavy steel-and-glass door closed on the warmth and brightness of the store, relative to the night. The streetlamps worked here. Sometimes. One was flickering weakly. Shuffling, with much rustling from the dead leaves that worked as insulation, the shapeless pile of clothing headed up the hill, past the last working streetlamp, towards the cemetery. 

Behind it, in the store, the clerk had pulled his textbook and notepad back out onto the counter again. Highlighter poised, he returned to his reading. One of the fluorescent lights near the cooler flickered a few times before reluctantly returning to a weak constant glow.