In the Flash

The Cashier

Cynthia stood in the checkout lane, waiting for her turn. She'd been shopping at the same store for years and knew everyone. She also always went to the manned lanes, ignoring the self-checkouts since these felt fundamentally wrong to her, immoral almost.

After what felt like forever, she heard a voice greet her warmly, "Hey, Cynthia! How have you been? Your son getting used to being a dad yet?"

Cynthia mumbled a reply, but the girl working behind the counter was one she had never seen. Perhaps, she thought, they had hired a new one to replace the one who left? Still, the way the woman talked to her made her on edge. Who was she and how did she know about her son?

The girl continued to check groceries and try to engage Cynthia. She seemed clueless that her talkative manner wasn't wanted at the moment. Cynthia missed her regular checker, Omunique. To be honest, she hadn't seen Omunique for about three weeks now.

Finally, she could take it no longer. "Do you know where Omunique is?" she asked. "Is she on vacation or something?"


"Cynthia, don't you recognize me?" the girl asked. "I AM Omunique!"

Cynthia stared in disbelief. The hair was fire engine red, and the girl wore makeup and didn't have glasses—HER Omunique had glasses, blond hair, and no makeup

"I dyed my hair vintage red and decided to dress up a little," Omunique explained, laughing.

Cynthia laughed along with Omunique, no longer annoyed by all the chatter. She placed the bags of groceries in her cart and said her goodbyes as she left the line. "I'll see you next week!" she called out.

Omunique returned the promise of another meeting, but couldn't help teasing Cynthia, "Maybe, maybe not...might be the hair!"