Road Ends by Mary Lawson Read Free Book Online Page B

into the cart: two loaves of bread, a pound of butter, two quarts of milk, a box of cornflakes, four cans of Heinz baked beans. He slowed down, looking for something that could be called a meal, and finally selected four cans of stew.Then he saw some cans of corned beef and got four of those too. He looked at the meat counter, but everything required cooking, so all he got was a dozen hot dogs in a plastic bag.
    “If it keeps on I’ll have to spend the night with Mr. and Mrs. Marshall,” the girl said gloomily. She was still up at the counter, but the store was so small he could hear her easily. “My brother will never be able to get into town to pick me up. Which is a real drag, because this is supposed to be my last day. It’s so boring here I can’t stand it another
minute
! I’ve been counting the
seconds
, and now it looks like I’m going to be here all
night
!”
    She had to be talking to him because there was no one else in the store, but she was hidden from view by a pile of toilet paper so Tom decided he could ignore her. He stopped alongside the canned fruit, wondering how much to get, then suddenly realized he was going to have to carry it all home. Damn it! he thought,
Damn it
! He retraced his steps, put back two of the four cans of beans, two of the stew, two of the corned beef. He’d only be able to carry enough to last himself and Adam for a couple of days. But that was okay, he decided; the others could look after themselves or starve, either would be fine by him.
    Then he remembered his mother. She obviously couldn’t fend for herself at the moment any more than Adam could. He retraced his steps again, picking up a third can of everything, then stood looking down at his cart. He’d need to make two trips, which would be impossible in weather like this. He couldn’t come back tomorrow because tomorrow was Sunday and the store would be closed. In fact, from the look of the blizzard, it could stay closed for days.
    “We have a sled you could borrow if you like,” the girl said. Tom looked around but she still wasn’t in sight. Was she a mind reader? But a sled was the answer, no doubt about it.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    “You’re welcome. Look at that snow. It’s
disgusting
. I’m going to be stuck here
forever
. You know they say no two snowflakes look the same? Do you believe that?”
    Tom gave a noncommittal grunt.
    “Neither do I,” the girl said. “And anyway, how would they know? I mean, there must be
billions
of them! So how would they know?”
    Tom went back down the aisles picking up all the items he’d just discarded, then studied his load. Peanut butter. Honey. Cheese. Cookies. Coffee. Tea. More bread. That’s it.
    He pushed the cart to the checkout and began piling his purchases onto the counter, keeping his head down so she wouldn’t talk to him. The girl began putting them in bags, punching numbers into the adding machine as she went.
    “No vegetables,” she said abruptly, one finger poised over the adding machine. “And don’t say Heinz beans. Heinz beans don’t count.”
    Tom looked at her properly for the first time. She was built like an Amazon, tall and blond, but she couldn’t be more than sixteen—maybe eighteen at the outside. She was chewing gum and examining his purchases with narrow-eyed disapproval. He’d have said, How about getting your nose out of my business? but she was female and just a kid and he needed the sled.
    “This is all I need,” he said.
    “I’ll chuck in some carrots and cabbage for free if you like,” the girl said. “They’re getting kind of old. Mr. Marshall won’t mind in the circumstances.”
    “I don’t need them. Thanks.”
    “Tsk, tsk,” she said. “Everyone needs vegetables. And fruit. How about some apples? We still have a few. They’re old too, but they’re still okay.”
    “No.” He didn’t bother with the thanks this time. He was starting to find it hard to get his breath. He needed to get out.
    “Up to