Ember looked at her feet, keeping her arms crossed over her body as she quickly made her way to the store. Months had passed and they had moved several times and now they were risiding in a small town in Oklahoma. It was November, so not freezing yet but there was still a biting chill in the air that made Ember wish she could afford a nicer jacket.

She regularly patted her pocket and placed a hand inside to feel the wrinkled, tearing paper of the money she had. It was enough for some groceries and a bottle of power steering fluid for the car. She knew it wasn’t going to randomly disappear from her pants pocket, but she still became afraid every few minutes that it was gone. She and her mother were getting low and they’d need more. Soon. Probably as soon as they reached the next town Joan would begin targeting the next victim and they’re monetary issues would be resolved for awhile. Assuming the next victim had a large enough wallet that is.

The store was maybe a mile from where Ember and her mother lived, so not a bad walk. It was small and a bit run down, but certainly not the worst place Ember had seen. It was run by an older man that always tried to greet Ember when she walked in, but she always ignored him

After grabbing some food items, Ember stood cluelessly in front of a few items that appeared the be related to automobiles. She looked over at the bottles, glancing at the foreign symbols on them, trying to figure out which translated to “power steering.” Joan taught Ember lots as the child grew into a teenager, however, things like reading and writing and math weren’t on the list. The words, though apparently in English, meant nothing to Ember’s eyes.

After a moment, with tears of frustration and embarrassment building up, Ember dragged herself to the man behind the register.

“Umm,” she shyly asserted, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She was bad at this. Interacting with others.

“Yes ma’am?” The old man smiled her, his blue eyes sparkling in kindness. Ember felt her stomach turn. It felt wrong.

“I, uhh, I need—well, what I mean is, arg! Do you have p-power steering fluid?”

He continued smiling and looking at Ember, before gesturing towards the back, where she’d been standing. “It’s over there.”

“I was looking but I didn’t know which bottle…”

“The one that says Power Steering, ma’am. Somewhere in the middle shelf I believe.”

Ember stared down at her feet again and fought the embarrassment and shame at having this man see how pathetic she was. “I’m not very good with cars and I really don’t know which is best…” The man saw how uncomfortable and unsure she was, so despite not really understanding why she was having trouble walked over to the shelf with her.

“They’re really mostly the same. Besides, all we have is this,” he gestured to, “which is the branded version, and this” he gestured to another, “which is the generic.”

“Thanks,” Ember said, blushing with embarrassment at how stupid she must have looked in front of this man. She hated that anyone had seen this somewhat vulnerable side of her. She followed him back up to the register where she placed all her items.

“That’ll be 12.75, ma’am.”

Ember handing him the wrinkled bundle of bills from her pocket, not bothering to count it, mostly as she didn’t know how to. She rocked up and down on her heels as the man counted at the cash.

“There’s nine dollars here.”

“Oh. Are you sure?” Ember bit her lip nervously, knowing her mother would be pissed if she came back empty handed.

“Umm, yes.”

“Well, how much of that can I get for nine?”

The man looked at her with a sad look, before pushing all the groceries to her and handing her the cash. “Here, on the house for you, young lady.”

Ember’s eyes widened in surprise at the generosity. She hadn’t expected there to be anyone out there that could possibly be kind like this, let alone a man. They were all greedy, thieving cheaters who were only good for one thing.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Ember mumbled a thanks before grabbing the groceries and walking as quickly back home.

“I’m home!” she yelled as she came in the apartment, kicking her shoes across the room.

“You think I can’t see that?” Joan had a cigarette sitting between her index and middle fingers, before placing it to her lips and inhaling deeply.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t notice.”

“Yeah, yeah. What’d you get?”

“Oh, some food and the power steering fluid so the car stops making that god awful noise when we turn.”

“You know how to use the power steering shit?”

Ember shrugged. “It can’t be that hard.” Admittedly, she hadn’t really thought about how she was going to put it in the car, just that they needed it. She also didn’t really know what it was for, but one of their neighbors had commented that they needed some after hearing the noises it made as they drove.

“Hmm, hope not. Guess it’ll be worth the cost if makes that noise stop.” Joan tapped the ashes of her cigarette on the table, before inhaling again.

***

“Where are going this time?”

Ember was good at moving. Better than anyone else her age she figured. She was the master of getting her few possessions into a suitcase and not caring as they left their life behind. She held her duffel in hand while walking out their old beater.

“Alba Michigan.”

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s real small.”

“What’s there?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. People, men, money.”739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt12AQuI4E