"FWLS29" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

"Much better," he said. "That should hold through the
night. So this is your first pre-christmas sale?"

"Err... yeah," Chrissy said.

"Well, looks like you've come out of it better than most of
us," the clerk shrugged.

Chrissy looked down at herself. Her nice department store
uniform was ripped and stained, her blouse missing a button and
torn by weed whacker from the hardware department. Her normally
every-hair-in-its-place look was now suitable for setting on fire
and calling out to shepherds.

Of course, the clerk was worse. Most of his tie had been
shredded, along with his shirt. One shoe was missing and his
pants had a few gashes, along with some makeshift bandages.
Despite this, he was still grinning.

"Come on, it's safe to stand up," he said, getting to his
feet. "They can't get at us now. We're lucky we managed to get
back here in time."

"Why... what..." Chrissy stammered, looking at the violence
and looting going on around her.

"It's always this way around the holidays," the clerk
shrugged as another arm hit the shield, followed a second later
by the other one. "You know, last minute gift purchases,
shortages of stock, rare items, the usual. Heck, I remember when
they brought back Cabbage Patch Kids. We were wading around
ankle-deep in fluid the next day."

"How could people be so... so... CRUEL to each other?"
Chrissy said, horrified at the insane shopper slugfest going on
outside their shelter.

"It's a sale," the clerk replied.

"Oh," she commented, trying to look away from the carnage.
"Say, umm, what's your name?"

"How long HAVE you worked here?"

"Oh, about three weeks."

"Fair enough. I've been on vacation that long. Name's
Jobe. What's yours?"