Leigh turned around to see what Kate was referring to. Outside, in the middle of the parking lot, a bunch of kids surrounded a small truck. She was familiar with it, as the logo and name of Fresh Lettuce could be seen and read on the side. After working at Fresh Lettuce Groceries for ten years -the last four as a
manager- Leigh Campbell (née Faulkner) could recognize any of those trucks as easily as spotting them through the corner of her eye. Literally; she had surprised herself doing it when walking down the city center outside working hours. Therefore, those children screaming and laughing around the company's truck immediately brought a feeling of annoyance to her.
"Did you say 'again'?" inquired Leigh. "I've not been told anything about any children here."
Kate's eyes gazed back to the children, all of which were boys.
"They came here last Wednesday. It was the first time, as far as I'm concerned."
"Wednesday was my free day" stated Leigh, now looking at the boys again. "Why didn't you or Marie tell me anything about
this?"
Kate shrugged her shoulders with a shy smile on her face. "We just thought that it'd be a one-time thing. We didn't expect them to come back, and since they did nothing but surround and look at the truck we saw no reason to ponder further..."
Glancing back at the queue of customers waiting to pay, Leigh meditated and quickly solved that her subordinate was right. Just a bunch of bored little boys wandering around the parking lot of a grocery store. Kate could not foresee them coming. Hell, no one would expect them to come back. But there were they, circling the vehicle, making comments and giggling. What would they be up to?
Leigh opened her mouth to call for security, but right then the boys seemed to get bored enough and started leaving. Two of them looked back to the truck as the whole gang -because they clearly were one- walked away. Well, one problem less to think about. Still, she was not willing to just forget about the episode. There was something about those kids that worried her.
"Let me know if they show their faces over here again" Leigh asked Kate. The later raised her eyebrows, albeit just slightly.
"Do you think they're something to be concerned about?". Leigh
smiled.
"Nah, don't worry" she assured her. "They're just a bunch of
little rascals. Nothing we ourselves cannot handle."
**********
Later that day
"I wouldn't worry about them", said Ray. "Just a bunch of rascals, that's what they are."
Leigh's husband never worried too much about the first impression of anything. With a slight embarrassment, Leigh was
happy to get some assurance from him. Not because she thought that that would make her look like the stereotype of distressed woman in need to a male savior, but because she had walked all the way home thinking that those boys were nothing to be concerned about. She had to convince herself, actually. How come a full grown, 33-years old woman could allow those brats to get in her mind?
"They probably just think this is funny", she agreed. They were sitting at the kitchen table, having dinner. Leigh was still
dressed with the turquoise shirt and the tight, navy-blue pencil skirt of her work uniform. Ray had changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants. At the side of the round table, their little son Timmy was eating his dinner while reading a comic book, completely oblivious to his parents' conversation.
"Boys are always challenging each other for bragging rights" Ray continued. "I wouldn't be surprised if actually that's what
this is all about. Maybe they want to see if they can disturb you."
Leigh smiled; "So silly. So typical of boys". Ray smiled back. After eight years of marriage he still got those butterflies inside every time his beautiful brown-haired wife smiled. She always did so coyly, a probable sub-product of her take-charge personality, but he had always found that cute. Of course, the fact that Ray Campbell had married a woman that face-wise resembled the young Monica Bellucci probably had something to do with it.
Leigh rose from her chair holding her empty dish on her hands;
"I think I'll confront them, anyway", she said as she walked towards the dishwasher. "If they dare to appear again, of course".
Ray laughed briefly. "Leigh Campbell, Priestess of the Fresh Lettuce and Tamer of Feral Children, is out for blood! Behold,
you sinners!" he blurted out jokingly, after which he playfully smacked Leigh's round and generous backside over the tight
skirt as she had bent over in front of the open dishwasher. Leigh let go a brief shriek of surprise, followed by the girliest giggle she could produce without sounding fake.
"Dad, what's a feral child?" suddenly inquired Timmy, raising his head from the comic book from what sometimes Ray and
Leigh felt like an eternity. Ray looked at him while raising an eyebrow, which he knew always made his five years-old sound smile. As always, it worked.
"Well, buddy", he started feigning a cartoon-esque scientist's speech. "A feral child is exactly what you become into every
night when bedtime arrives but you still want to keep watching TV".
"But watch out tonight! The Priestess is out there!" Leigh joked as she walked behind Timmy. She tenderly kissed the top of his head.
They finished dinner. Ray cleaned the kitchen while Leigh bathed Timmy and changed him into his pajamas. Later into the
night, as she was falling asleep in bed, the image of the boys briefly resurfaced in her mind.
I'll just confront them, that's all, she thought as she closed her eyes.
**********
One week later
Everything had gone back to normalcy, and Leigh had forgotten about the kids. For better or worse, her position as a manager didn't allow for many distractions during the day. Today, the Fresh Lettuce was filled with customers; several suppliers had decided to boost sales by adding one-day-only discounts to several of their products. It worked; at the Fresh Lettuce each cash register had a queue of an average of twelve people with carts each, and the whole stored had seven cash registers. Leigh's mind didn't seem to want anything to do with whatever may have been happening outside the store. It was almost like the parking lot belonged to another country, and the boys from last
week were just annoying tourists.
Work was hard and stressful. But Leigh didn't mind it at all. In fact, she welcomed it; quiet days were the worst. The amount of boredom could drive her crazy. But in days like today there was no time for superfluous thoughts, just barely for a couple of quick coffees. Moreover, due to the town's official holidays the store would close its doors at 18:00, which granted a constant surge of customers through the whole day.
At 18:30 Leigh had prepared to leave and go home. Kate, Marie and everyone else had left already. Leigh would go all the way home on foot but, since it was a nice warm evening, this didn't constitute a problem at all. She locked the office's door, crossed the commercial area, walked into the loading dock and exited it through the small door next to the dock's closed gate. Leigh locked this door too and turned around to cross the empty parking lot when suddenly she spotted something with the corner of her eye, at her left. Something very familiar.
The truck was again there, and along with it were also the kids. They were laughing and had some cardboard boxes next to them. Leigh quickly found the explanation; the little rascals had finally found the way to open the truck's doors and had ransacked the cargo area. Leigh felt pissed off immediately, but not so much at the kids. Actually, the first target of her anger was towards Norman, the 21 years-old truck driver for the Fresh Lettuce. He's a good kid, and hardworking, but had a worrisome tendency to forget certain things. Things like 'always remember to leave the truck parked inside the loading dock area at the end of the shift, Norman'. Leigh decided that the following day Norman would get a thorough talking-to. Not the kind that preceded employment termination, but one that was severe enough to wake him up and correct his careless behavior.
Yes, because of that, she was required to deal with those brats. It was just a matter of time that something like this would eventually happen.
Now that the issue with Norman had been worked in Leigh's mind, her attention diverted towards the boys. They had opened a couple of boxes and were quite happy with their contents; bags of chips, soda cans and several kinds of candies were some of the things among their newfound treasure. Leigh remembered her
promise to herself from last week.
Call them on it, Leigh. Show'em who's the boss!
Arm-crossed, Leigh Campbell walked towards those misbehaving brats with a confident walking, and opened her
mouth to blurt out the first line of her menacing speech when suddenly her words didn't seem to be able to leave her lips.
Hating herself for that a bit, Leigh felt a brief but remarkable jab of fear. The boys had noticed that Leigh was approaching them and, far from startling or worrying, they seemed to display a mischievous smile on their faces, a smile that showed signs of being up to no good at all. This freaked Leigh out momentarily. How come they're so bold?
And they're not just three, or four. They're seven boys.
Watch out, Leigh.
All they looked like nine years-old. However, she thought, their smiles looked older, quite older actually. Those kids were clearly street-smart, and they didn't show any shred of worry towards the fact that an authoritative grown up was right there witnessing what they were doing. Leigh realized that this wasn't the first time those kids were involved in this kind of situation.
She also realizes that, since this was her first time dealing with something like this, those kids had something resembling an edge over her. Later she'd think that being aware of this is what drove her to act in the way she did. But she solved not to panic.
"I'll give you five seconds to drop those boxes and get out of here" she stated, coldly. "Don't make me angry."
Nothing. The boys displayed their arrogant smile once again. One of them giggled maliciously.
"Start the countdown, then", he said. The other six laughed carelessly. This clearly wasn't going to be easy, but Leigh was
not willing to give it up. Those kids were in need of some basic discipline, and if no one else was up to giving it to them then it'd be her job. She took a firm step forward, still arm-crossed.
"I'm serious, you brats. If you don't leave immediately you're gonna regret it", Leigh continued. "Soon I'll call the cops and..."
Leigh stopped talking. Another kid, dressed in a blue tracksuit, was mimicking her talking and exaggerating her mannerism for the laughs. And the rest of the gang obliged! Leigh started to feel powerless; she was losing control of the situation.
Oh, you think you ever had any control over all this, Leigh?
This last thought drove her mad. It was just not possible that she could not exert any control over those rascals! She realized, she was about to lose it. Those boys had something on them that demanded an iron hand. Leigh clenched her teeth, along with her fists.
"I guess this is what we get when we adults refuse to deal with little, pathetic, self-serving brats like you", he hissed, furiously. "I bet nothing would work with any of you. Nothing, except a good smack."
The black kid resting against the truck laughed. "Oh, lady! You should watch out that big mouth of yours! It may get you into trouble quicker than you think..."
"Oh, really? You are talking to me about being big mouthed?"
Leigh laughed bitterly; the whole situation had started to take a turn for the surreal. "Look, this is my last warning; either you go away now, or I call the cops. The choice is yours."
Then, another boy who was wearing a black hoodie violently threw the can of coke he was drinking from to the pavement. The can bounced away while buzzing in a cloud of foam. "I'll make you a better deal; either you go away and leave us alone, or we'll kick that big ass of yours. Choose now!"
This display of sheer aggression startled Leigh, who took a step backwards with her mouth adopting an almost comical O-shape. That was the moment in which she let go any hope of solving this issue seamlessly. The kids saw her fear, and they thrived on it. Leigh was now terrified, because the boys were closing the distance. It took a herculean effort from her part to not to take a step backwards.
"So?" inquired another black kid. "Are you gonna take our deal or not?"
"It’s a good one, be smart and get the hell out of here" said Black Hoodie. The boys were smiling again. Although not perceptibly, Leigh had started to shake.
"We'll count to five", added Blue Tracksuit. "One... two..."
"I'll call the cops, I'm serious!" cried Leigh, all authority already gone. She took not one, but two step backwards. She could not help it. The kids kept walking forward.
"... three..."
"Just leave! NOW!" Leigh screamed. It was her last resort and was completely futile.
"Five!", screamed Blue Tracksuit. "Let's go get her, boys!"
"No!" Leigh screamed, right before the gang of boys surrounded the Fresh Lettuce's manager and pounced on her.
**********
Later that evening
Both Ray and Timmy heard the door being opened. Timmy ran towards it.
"Mommy's home!" he hurled. Ray kept sitting on the couch, watching another episode of that not-so-interesting-but-whatelse-could-I-watch-now TV series. And he would have kept watching it if not what he heard Timmy saying next.
"Mom... what are you doing with that piece of cardboard?"
The note of surprise on Timmy's voice startled his own curiosity. Ray rose back to his feet and walked towards the main
entrance when Timmy reappeared, walking backwards. He was looking at his mother with an expression of astonishment on his young face. Leigh walked in, holding an unwrapped cardboard box from the Fresh Lettuce in front of her midsection and legs.
Ray looked up to his wife's face and could see that she was furious.
No, not furious; she was mad.
"Leigh..." he started, not really sure of how to proceed. Ray chose his words carefully, as much as he could. "What did
happen?"
Leigh breathed in. It was an attempt to calm down that didn't work. She proceeded to tell anyway; "Remember those little rascals from the parking lot? Well, they came back today and I decided to confront them..."
Ray started to understand. His jaw was dropping slowly. Timmy, because of his young age, didn't.
"What's the cardboard for, Mom?" he asked again, amazed. "Mommy?"
Leigh looked at him. "Go to your room, dear", she told him, softly. "Mom and Dad need to have a talk."
"But what's the deal with the cardboard?"
"You heard Mommy, buddy" said Ray while patting Timmy's shoulder. "Go to your room and stay there. I'll come up soon."
Timmy obliged and walked out of the living room. Leigh made sure of not giving him her back while holding the cardboard
tightly against her midsection. Leigh waited until hearing the door of Timmy's room being closed. Then she spoke.
"It didn't go well" she said. Ray noticed that she was holding the cardboard so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. "In fact, it backfired. I mean, it backfired horribly."
"That cardboard... does that mean what I am thinking it means?" he asked. With a heavy-hearted look on her beautiful face, Leigh turned around so he could see it by himself. The cardboard didn't cover her from behind, so Ray could see everything. Now he was staring at Leigh's underwear-clad buttocks.
"What on Earth?!" he blurted out. Leigh kept covering herself with the cardboard in case Timmy decided to disobey his
parents' command of staying on his room. Ray kept looking at his wife's bum in anger and disbelief. "Those little rascals!", he added, furiously.
"Yes" she agreed. Leigh was so furious and humiliated that she hissed the words through her clenched teeth. "Those little
rascals."
THE END
