volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

She forgot to ask him for his Safeway card!
He could report her to the GM for this. Her years of making
change and stocking shelves and being coy and flirting and
learning all the price codes would have been in vain. Years
throw away. This smelly, bald man holds her career in the palm
of his woolen, fingerless glove.
She has no choice but to proceed, and pray he doesn’t notice.
By the looks of him, he probably doesn’t even have a Safeway
Card.
Then she was supposed to sign him up for one!
Christ—how she wants to go home.
“Y-Your change, sir. Have a nice day, now.”
He probably doesn’t even have I.D.
She grits her teeth as she says sir and smiles and holds her
breath and grits her teeth some more.
Roy takes the plastic Safeway bag from the wizened bagger
lady and shuffles away. He doesn’t even bother raising his eyes
to Robyn, much less acknowledging her wish for a nice day, now.
Robyn/Supervisor sighs. She glances at the big electric clock
hung over the automatic doors through which Roy passes.
A little bit less than two hours to go.
She wonders if she should get some extra batteries for her
dildo.
Roy steps into the rain.
Mel’s house is three blocks away. As Roy’s feet direct him
there, his stomach fills with butterflies, scorpions and dung
beetles. His heart races as if considering a bin of broccoli. The
closer his feet bring him to his destination, the more panicky he
becomes, the more he thinks the best thing in the world might
be for him to go back to his room, put his bold plan on hold, and
forget the whole thing.
So rattled is Roy that he forgets to install the new batteries for
his Sony.
And does he ever need his tunes.
But the truth is he’s tired of them, too. In a flash he recalls
what brought him here today—the allure of new tunes.
No. He can’t back out now.
2 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY