Run the Store

“You’ve got one job. All you have to do is man this counter. Got it?” Douglass Darden and instructed.

“I’ve got it, Grandpa,” nineteen-year old Nivio Neckton responded.

Darden left the store in Wilmington, Delaware. Neckton smiled. He saw the car start and began to hum a tune. As his grandfather peeled off from the convenience store, Neckton whistled. A string section, woodwinds, horns, and percussion came from the back. Neckton locked the door and switched off the “Open” sign. Between packets of gum and bags of potato chips, the members of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra began to play a sonata.

Also from the back, Jarina Valasquez, Neckton’s girlfriend, emerged in an evening gown.

Neckton stripped off his uniform to reveal a tuxedo. He came from around the counter and took his sweetheart’s hand.

“Simon, dim the lights,” he commanded the assistant.

The strings and woodwinds played an airy arrangement as the horns blew with certainty.

“You know, this is nice,” Jarina said.

“I know,” Neckton smiled.

“Shut up!” Jarina smiled, too.

“I guess you can call this mixing business with pleasure. I’m just enjoying the fact you’re off work and I’m technically off, too,” Neckton replied.

“Is this what you always dream about?” Jarina asked.

“It is. I love this music and I love you. You’re the thing I can say that is real and true. With the time we’ve spent together, it’s a great joy for you to be in my presence,” Neckton said confidently.

“You are the prize,” Jarina remarked.

Then the door burst with glass flying everywhere. Three thugs in ski masks and wearing black down to their boots marched through into the store, glass crunching under their feet.

“What the hell is this, some kind of concert shit?” The leader asked.

“If you wish to see your next day, I suggest everyone get out of this store right now!”The musicians grabbed their musical tools and vanished.

He looked at Jarina and Neckton. “No, you two stay here. Who’s got the key to the drop safe?”

“I do,” Neckton said evenly. “At least let her go. You’ll get your money. Trust me?”

“I trusted my daddy and he ran out on my momma. You think I’m gonna trust you?!”

“That’s unfortunate, but I can give you all the cash available.”

The two other hoods lined up behind the main one.

“I need that money! Run those dollars. Get what’s in the register, too.” The hooligan presented a duffle bag. Neckton crouched and saw the semi automatic rifle under the counter equipped with a scope and night vision capability.

“Let’s not get cute. And hurry up with the money!”

“Okay, Okay,” Neckton’s heart was going at a trillion miles an hour but his mind slowed. He remembered the assistant.

“Simon turn all the lights off!” He shouted.

The hoods aimed their guns, but Neckton was sharp on the draw and lined them all up with the quickness. He fired one round and it penetrated all three of them in the forehead. The one shot kills emboldened Neckton. “Lights on Simon.”

Where an oboist had once sat, blood pooled on the floor. It splattered on beef jerky and candy.

Jerina came from the back clutching her mouth. She ran to Neckton’s arms.

“I just heard a single shot. They didn’t have a chance against you did they?”

“It looks that way.”

“I’m going to call the cops,” Jerina announced.

“No, I should call. They know my name by now since our last attempt on the store,” Neckton declared to his girlfriend. The police arrived and zipped up the plastic bags with the street vermin.

Just then, Grandpa Darden reached the store. He came and saw the flashing lights.

“You had one job, grandson. And you did well,” Darden remarked.

“Thanks, grandpa.”

Jarina came over and hugged Darden and planted a kiss on her boyfriend’s cheek, some lipstick leaving a trace.