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Fiction

An Observation on the Lunch Time Habits of Co-Workers

Inside Walgreens, Helmsley Redflower notices two of his co-workers standing at the 50-75% clearance display. Both male. The co-workers do not see him and are thus engaged in conversation, as much as he can determine from the distance at which he stands, regarding the value of the products within the 50-75% clearance display. He walks closer, still undetected, passing by a rack baring theater size boxes of Whoppers. Helmsley Redflower does not like Whoppers nor any malt-chocolate, be it from The Hershey Company or any other chocolate manufacturer in North America. The slightly pot-bellied one with a goatee holds a bottle of bubbles and a teddy bear that did not find a Valentine this year, waving the teddy bear in one hand as if a sock pocket, saying, “Oh, look at me. I am a teddy bear and I have bubbles.” The other co-worker, also a male, looks on, smiling. A Walgreens employee in charge of the 30-minute photo booth stares at the two, inquisitively.

By Jeffrey Pillow

Jeffrey Pillow is an American short story writer, memoirist, and poet. He is the author of The Lady Next Door. His writing has been published in Urge Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, 16 Blocks, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, TheBody.com, New York Times, Washington Post, and Richmond Times-Dispatch.

He grew up in the small town of Phenix, Virginia, population: 200, and now lives in Charlottesville with his wife, two kids, and a dog named Mozzarella Cheese. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he was a Rainey Scholar. This is his blog.

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