The Closing Crew

-- Inspired by Stewart O'Nan's fantastic novella "Last Night at the Lobster." I wanted to write something that captured everyday people the way he captured them, with just a bit more quirkiness... --

"The Closing Crew"

When they close, they shut off all the lights
And play Nirvana as loud as they can
Over the loudspeakers
In the store

The floors get mopped
The shelves get scanned
The registers get cashed out
The crew goes home

That's the system
They know the system

The Manager looks at the pork chops
And contemplates a career change

He could go work in Dorcy
With his brother
At the sporting goods store

But here he's a Manager
At the sport goods store
He'd be at the lowest rung
Scrubbing down the display canoes
When stupid fathers put their stupid kids in them
And they laugh so hard they pee

The kids, not the dads

Here he just has to look at the pork chops
And pretend not to notice
That Shae Ann is jerking off Thayton
In the canned goods aisle

Poor kids can't afford an apartment
So Shae Ann lives with her mom
And her mom's boyfriend
Who sells drugs and smiles at her
A little too much

Thayton lives with his sister
Who doesn't let any girls in the house
Because she doesn't like skinny girls
Because it reminds her she's not
And that may be mean
But the Manager hates people
Who hide other people's happiness
Just because they can't find their own

The Manager puts them on the closing shift
Because he knows if they don't work together
They'll never see each other
They both have days jobs
And they're both more tired
Than most people twice their age
And all they got is jerking off next to the Campbell's soup

It isn't the prettiest kind of love
But a life like the kind those kids have
Doesn't have the luxury of being pretty

He checks in on Miss Jane near the front of the store
She's looking outside and thinking of the cigarette she's going to have
As soon as the doors open

She's closing in on seventy
And if her husband hadn't died unexpectedly
Without telling her he'd gambled away their savings
She'd be sitting pretty in Florida right now
Or Montana, Michigan, who knows?

Most people think an old smoker's been smoking all their life
But Miss Jane didn't start until the first bill collector called
Just as she was going through her husband's desk drawers

She went out that night and bought her first pack
And she never let anybody say shit about it

'How you doing, Miss Jane?'
'Dandy, boss.'
'Miss Jane, you know I--'
'Don't like me calling you boss.'
'That's right.'
'Well, unless you wanna make me your boss, then you're mine, and that's what I'm gonna call you.'

He laughed at her

'You going home to watch your soaps?'

Her neighbor tapes The Young and the Restless on old VHS tapes
And leaves them in front of her door

When she gets five tapes stacked up
She watches them all at once
And that's her weekend

Then she leaves the tapes back at her neighbor's door
And everything gets taped over

Miss Jane sees some poetry in that
All those stories saved up
Then erased
Then built on
Week after week

You can't really save anything
That's what Miss Jane knows for sure

The Manager meets Pac Man at the change machine
Pac Man's his old buddy
Who used to bunk school with him

They'd go to the arcade and play Pac Man
And try to beat each other's scores
But Pac Mac always stayed ahead of the Manager
And his high score was still sitting in the machine
The day they closed down the arcade
Fifteen years ago

'Whatcha lookin' at Pac Man?'
'You know I got buckets of coins?'
'Oh yeah?'
'Yeah.'
'Whatcha going to do with those buckets of change, huh?'

This was how they talked
Like a call and answer team

Pac Man stocked
The Manager got him the job
When his wife left
After one too many other women
Left their shoes in her closet

The Manager feels bad for a woman whose been wronged
But that woman still takes the money Pac Man sends her
And that's something the Manager can't understand

You don't kick someone out of your house
Then take their money
Even slumlords don't do that

'I'm going to take those buckets and empty it into this machine.'
'Then what?'
'Take off.'
'Quit on me, huh?'
'I'll give you two hours notice.'
'Don't do me any favors.'
'Two hours is more of a favor than my ex gave me.'
'And more than you gave any of those other girls.'

Pac Man laughs
Then taps on the screen
Showing the little dancing dollar signs

'Used to pour all these coins into games. Nothing but games for me, all the time. When the games stopped, I kept dropping those coins. Except now I drop them into buckets. And one day all those buckets are going to fill up and I'm going to take off on them. Empty out my buckets once and for all, and this time have something to show for it.'

'Damn, that's pretty, Pac Man.'
'Isn't it though?'
'Just teared me up a bit.'
'Glad I could make your day, boss.'
'Don't call me boss.'

Before he locked up, he checked on Karen
Sitting in the break room
Talking to her kids

Karen's got that hard look
That the Manager likes in a woman
He doesn't like a girl you can break
The first time you make 'em cry

She has three kids
All from the same fucked up guy
Who pops in long enough
For a birthday a quick screw
Then goes off again
With a truck full of assholes
Just like him

'How's Mikey doing?'
'Still sick.'
'Stop feeding him.'
'You're funny.'
'Food has germs in it. Don't you know that?'
'What do you feed your kids?'
'Don't have 'em...anymore...cause I fed them.'
'Do you need me to get you a microphone or a heckler?'
'Get me both. I'm on a roll.'

It'd be nice if girls like Karen
Liked guys who made them laugh
Instead of the ones who fuck up their lives

But then there wouldn't be any tv shows
And there wouldn't be any movies
And there wouldn't be any drama
And what would life be, right?

'I'm locking up.'
'Gimme a sec. I need one more cup before I go home.'
'Too much caffeine will kill you.'
'Oh, is that what's gonna kill me, boss?'
'Don't call me boss.'

They scatter in the parking lot
To shit-bed cars and late-night buses
Pac Man gives Shae and Thay a ride
Which is nice of him

The Manager doesn't like to get that close
Get that close and all the lines just disappear
And it's still work, after all

Still gotta work