{"id":372,"date":"2017-07-21T23:29:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T22:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/?p=372"},"modified":"2024-10-17T16:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T15:55:29","slug":"flash-fiction-first-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/2017\/07\/21\/flash-fiction-first-day\/","title":{"rendered":"First Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cHey,\u201d said Ray. \u201cWhere do you keep the cable ties?\u201d
\nThe store keeper, stood at the far end of the aisle, barely acknowledged Ray\u2019s question, scribbled something on a clipboard, then simply walked away.\u201cJesus,\u201d Ray muttered. He didn\u2019t want to call after the dude, that would be rude. In the same way pretending to not hear someone and walk away was<\/em>. He went back to scanning the racks, up and down, left and right. Impossible to know if this was where the cable ties should have been. Or not. There was no discernible system to how the shit in this store was sorted. No signage overhead to say if this was the aisle for hand tools or plumbing supplies.
\nPlace was a mish-mash, nothing in its right place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ten minutes he\u2019d burned here already. Could have been at Walmart or Home Depot by now, the way he\u2019d originally intended, up to his neck drowning in all manner of neatly categorized cable ties. But no, this place he\u2019d been routinely driving past for years, that it was safe to assume had been put out of business even more years before by said Walmart or Home Depot, was suddenly open. Hey, maybe it was because he had the day off work. Maybe it was the type of operation that only opened from 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, that perhaps didn\u2019t need to open at all. Maybe this old shit was widowed and retired, only opened up to have something to do with himself from one end of the week to the other.
\n\u201cShould take up fucking customer service if he\u2019s at a loss,\u201d said Ray, strolling off. Maybe if he forgot about the cable ties, didn\u2019t intentionally look for them, they would pop out. This morning he\u2019d spent an age looking for a claw hammer in the garage, only to realize the thing had been staring him in the face the whole time. The harder you look for something, the harder it is to find.<\/em>
\nThe next two aisles were much the same story, no rhyme or reason to how anything was classified. Then in the third aisle, something else he had not yet seen here: other customers. In fact, unlike the deserted area of the store he\u2019d just come from, this section was positively swarming with people.
\nMaybe he\u2019d stumbled into the bargain basement zone to begin with. Would explain the random, jumbled-up nature of the displays around there. Except when he took note of what was stocked here, the story seemed to be the same.
\nAnd the customers, well they looked the same way he felt. Confused. Staggering about like blind cattle, bumping into one another and picking up whatever items came to hand, hardly even registering what was in their clutches before returning them to the shelf.
\n\u201cTo hell with this, I\u2019m out of here,\u201d said Ray, reversing back along the aisle and stepping on someone\u2019s toes. \u201cShit, sorry,\u201d he said, turning to find himself face to blank, expressionless face with the storekeeper.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s okay,\u201d replied the man. \u201cNo harm done.\u201d
\nThe storekeeper wore a knee length overall with a pocket protector, protecting a pocket on to the front of which was pinned a name badge. It bore the moniker: RAY.
\n\u201cHey, great name,\u201d said Ray.
\nThe storekeeper just smiled. \u201cWhat is it you\u2019re looking for, Ray?\u201d
\n\u201cCable ties. Not the skinny little ones though. The thick, heavy-duty bad boys, if you\u2019ve got them.\u201d
\nThe shopkeeper shook his head and rocked back and forth on his heels.
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have the thick ones\u2026 or you don\u2019t have cable ties, period?<\/em>\u201d
\nThe shopkeeper said nothing.
\n\u201cOkay,\u201d said Ray. Fuck this. \u201cNot to worry. Thanks for all your help.\u201d
\nThis was a half hour of his life he was not getting back.
\nHe arrived at the point he was sure he entered the store, only to find it, well, gone. Not so much as a doorway. Just a solid wall. He moved along said wall, checking to see if maybe he\u2019d moved across more aisles than he\u2019d thought, but no. The way he came in was nowhere to be found. And there seemed to be a whole lot more aisles than he remembered there being to begin with. In fact, he couldn\u2019t see the far end of the store. The aisles looked to stretch off into infinity. Which was kind of crazy. To put it mildly.
\nHe didn\u2019t hear the approach.
\n\u201cWhat is it you\u2019re looking for, Ray?\u201d
\nHe whirled around to find the creepy storekeeper standing far too close.
\n\u201cI told you before. Goddamn cable ties. But right now, the exit would do fine. How the hell do I get out of this dump?\u201d
\n\u201cThere is no exit.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d
\n\u201cFor what?\u201d
\nJesus.
\n\u201cThen the entrance, where did I come in?\u201d
\n\u201cThrough the front door, of course, the same way we all did.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you being funny?\u201d
\nThe storekeeper smiled. \u201cIf I seem that way, it\u2019s only because I\u2019m happy. Because my shift is coming to an end.\u201d
\n\u201cYour shift? Has this place not just opened?\u201d
\n\u201cOh no, it\u2019s been open some time,\u201d said the man, his smile widening. \u201cCable ties. They were not what brought you here,\u201d said the storekeeper, starting to unbutton his shirt. Thankfully, he had a t-shirt beneath. He removed the shirt carefully and folded it over his arm, running his fingers over the name badge. \u201cThis is where all those in need of something greater find themselves. Sometimes, those who become customers here are not even aware they have that need. It\u2019s up to them to browse the shelves, peruse the wares, and discover that which they are in need of.\u201d
\n\u201cI need the exit,\u201d said Ray, patience starting to run thin. \u201cIf you can\u2019t help me with that simple request, then I\u2019d like to speak to management.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd they would like to speak to you, I\u2019m sure,\u201d said the storekeeper, holding out the shirt to Ray with the name badge facing him. \u201cThey\u2019ve never promoted anyone so quickly to tend the flock, least of all on their first day. They must have big plans for you.\u201d
\n\u201cOkay, I\u2019m lost,\u201d said Ray.
\n\u201cNow you are found,\u201d said the man, wiping his hands on his t-shirt. \u201cTell me, what year is it?\u201d
\n\u201cUh, 2017, same way it was yesterday.\u201d
\n\u201c2017. Well I\u2019ll be,\u201d said the man, stuffing the shirt he\u2019d just removed into Ray\u2019s hands and pushing past.
\nRay spun around to find the former shopkeeper gone, and the shirt he\u2019d been given no longer in his hands but wrapped around his torso. He tried to take it off but the buttons wouldn\u2019t budge. It was like he was sewn into the thing.
\nOverhead, some stone age public address system crackled into life.
\n\u201cCould Ray please come to the management office. Ray to the management office, please.\u201d
\nThe customers, \u201cthe flock\u201d, as his predecessor, it now appeared, described them, stepped out from the lines of shelves and then parted, flanking him left and right, each one of them a beacon to light his path there.
\nEven as he set off, on the one hand seemingly accepting his fate as one foot put itself in front of the other, Ray couldn\u2019t help thinking that, truthfully, all he really wanted was those cable ties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHey,\u201d said Ray. \u201cWhere do you keep the cable ties?\u201d The store keeper, stood at the far end of the aisle, barely acknowledged Ray\u2019s question, scribbled something on a clipboard, then simply walked away.\u201cJesus,\u201d Ray muttered. He didn\u2019t want to call after the dude, that would be rude. In the same way pretending to not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flash-fiction","category-short-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamwho.com\/grahamwrites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}