He hated to stand there, ringing up purchases. He preferred the dingy, dark smell of the stock room or the upstairs stacks putting out new books or re shelving misplaced titles.Kerry’s side twinged every time she had to reach for something but of the few customers they had, only one older lady asked if she were alright. Kerry assured her that she was fine. She rang up a book on knitting patterns for children’s jumpers and wished her a very pleasant day. Kerry practically had to sneak past her momma to get out of the house that morning. Luckily, her father left for work at the cotton mill early.Her mother called the store the minute she knew Kerry was gone and reamed her up and down for worrying her half to death. Kerry assured her mother about ten times that she would be fine. She told her how she’d managed to walk into work without any trouble. It was a lie because she’d been panting and out of breath when she reached the employee entrance. She assured her mom she would be home promptly at the end of her shift for dinner without any deviations before her mother finally got off the phone.The day looked like it would pass without incident until Caleb came storming in.
