It was around ten in the morning, and I was in a pair of sweatpants and a loose shirt. I smiled as the lady behind the counter helped me check out. Her coworker had gone in to see if they had a brand of corned beef that wasn't on the shelves, and the lady was taking her time to talk to me as we waited.
"How's Nathaniel?" she asked, smiling as she pursed her lips and let out a low whistle. She was a woman with greying hair, and it seemed like her eyesight was failing since she kept squinting at the objects she would pick up and take a look at. "He hasn't been here in a while," she added, dropping the can of peas on the counter before looking straight at me. Her definition of 'in a while' was probably a few days. Nath came here quite often.
The store was empty apart from me, which was typi
