Never Rest by Jon Richter

Author:Jon Richter [Richter, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Published: 2018-03-29T23:00:00+00:00

Maybe you need some sleep, Chris

But when he emerged from the basement it was light outside, and he decided he might as well continue reading…

There is a bird trapped in the supermarket. I tell a shop assistant about it and he laughs and says it’s been here for weeks, pecking at the bread. The other shoppers seem uninterested in its futile existence.

I walk down the bakery aisle, wondering if I will see the creature fly past. I realise that everything is slowing down, that my steps are dragging through the air like wings through tar. There is no one else in the shop. The assistant I spoke to has left. In front of me the tills have no cashiers, and there are no queues. The strip lights glow bright and the shop sparkles as clean as can be, but there are no customers. I realise I don’t know what time it is, or how long I’ve been here. The windows are black, as though night has fallen outside while I’ve been wandering these aisles, up and down.

In my trolley everything is rotten. Flies are buzzing around the meat. I can see maggots crawling in the mushy bananas. As I walk, I am leaving a trail of stinking brown filth behind me, spoiling the see-your-own-reflection floor. The trolley is stacked with festering garbage. How long have I been pushing this thing around?

Someone is coming up the aisle towards me. I don’t want them to see my disgusting cargo. It is embarrassing.

But my legs refuse to move. I can’t turn away from the person either; my head is fixed in place, my eyelids jammed open. But still I can’t make out the newcomer properly; they are vague, shifting like a watery reflection. As they approach, I see that they too are pushing a trolley.

Veins bulge in my arms as I try to haul my cargo around and get out of the way. It will cause a scene. It will be humiliating. This thing is so heavy. The flies are going crazy for the rancid lamb steaks.

It is a man coming towards me. He is smartly dressed in his work clothes, a nice suit and tie, a bit like mine actually. Why am I wearing these? Did I come straight from work? What is my job? His suit might be a little more expensive, or better pressed. His trolley is virtually empty but mine is piled high, and it fucking reeks to high heaven.

There is no sign of the bird. Maybe that has left too. Just the two of us, on this aisle.

I decide to play it cool and lean nonchalantly on the trolley’s handle, as if I’m resting while deciding whether or not to buy some crumpets.

He walks past. Thank Christ. I didn’t see whether he looked at me. But at least now we can go our separate ways. But as I turn I realise that he has stopped right behind me. He is looking at the scones on the other side of the aisle.

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