Page 44 of Look at Her and Die

A man came up then, dropping a few more things in the cart.

That’s when I might’ve lost it.

I marched up to her and yanked my purse off her shoulder.

I sifted into my purse and pulled out her wallet, and the shit ton of crisp bills that she likely pulled out of the bank before coming here.

I took the cash and her cards before handing her wallet back to her, keeping my purse.

“Fuck you,” I said as I went back to my cart and turned it around.

All the while, the silent man at my side didn’t say a word.

I was zooming past the Cheez-Its when I caught sight of the crackers that were on sale that I had a coupon for.

From there, I made sure to get everything that I could get this month using my WIC card, then started in on the food that wasn’t on sale.

It was on the candy aisle that I decided that I could possibly afford a few small things for them.

Maybe a five for a dollar candy bar…

Posy snatched up a package of Reese’s footballs, which were my all-time favorite.

I ignored him and his stupid Reese’s and carefully picked out five candy bars.

I could give everyone one and have an extra for a rainy day when Calliope went on her period and decided the whole world would be better if it was lit on fire.

“What do you think would be best?” Posy asked as we came to a stop at tin foil. “The store brand or the real one?”

I turned the pages of my binder and got to the tin foil page, pulling out a few options for him.

He rolled his eyes at my coupons and said, “I’m not stealing your coupons.”

“I don’t buy tin foil,” I said. “It’s a waste of money. However, if you’re going to buy it, I have coupons you could use.”

He took one of the coupons and grabbed for the most expensive one.

I had a fleeting thought of ‘I wish I could do that’ and went back to shopping.

By the end of it, the whole bottom of my cart was filled, and my mother was nowhere to be seen.

Thankfully.

It’d take her a few days to get her a new card, and by then, I could start up a new account and move the money over.

My mom could contest it, of course, but she was the one who added me as a signer on the account because she up and left so often.

“What are you going to do about your mom?” Posy asked as we got into line at the checkout.

The constant beep-beep was making me jittery.

Mostly because I hated spending money, and it gave me anxiety.

As I checked out, I explained to him my plans.

“You can just take the money for the diner if she owns it?” he asked.

“She made me a part owner,” I said. “And she could fight it, sure. But then she’d have to get a lawyer to do so, and she’s not that invested. She’ll probably come back when the money dries up. Work for a while, then we’ll do this all over again in about six months.”

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