The ka-ching of the cash register irritated Alfred as he plunked the canned goods into a brown paper bag. Heavy items on the bottom-fragile items and perishables on top. He could bag groceries with his eyes closed. He should be a checker by now.

Keith had promised to make him a checker months ago. Then, when an opening occurred in the neighborhood grocery store in Lomita, California, he promoted Stephanie instead. Stephanie, the blue-eyed bitch with streaked blond hair who wouldn’t say two words to him, even when he was bagging at her counter, as he was now. She was probably sleeping with Keith. Alfred knew that she laughed at him. Laughed whenever she looked at his potbelly. Maybe not out loud, but inside. If she ever found out he had an outie bellybutton, that would only make matters worse.

However, none of this mattered anymore. Alfred had a much bigger problem-Penny. She had been acting very strangely the last few weeks. It was almost as if she were a different person. He was afraid of losing her. He was sure she was being unfaithful to him. She was his whole world. Without her, he would be left with nothing. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

He finished putting the groceries into the bags and the bags into the cart. He glanced at his Timex watch. His shift was over. He looked around the front of the market until he spotted Keith at the courtesy counter. He walked toward Keith, taking off his apron as he went. He wouldn’t need the apron anymore-because he was resigning, effective immediately.

The thunder of bowling balls rolling down the alleys and the staccato crack of pins being toppled provided background music to the buzz of conversation that emanated from the bowlers. Occasional shouts of triumph or groans of despair added syncopation to the other sounds. Penny sat at one of the tables in the refreshment area, aloof from it all, sipping a soda.