Sally

Sally
289 words

Every day, John stopped at a MiniMart and bought coffee and a lottery ticket.  One morning, before arriving at the MiniMart, he heard a hoarse voice say, “Please help!”

The speaker was a woman in the doorway of an abandoned building.  She wore a ragged football jersey over several layers of clothes and held a bundle wrapped in a dirty blanket. Tired eyes peered out through long, matted black hair. 

“My name is Sally,” she said.  “Can you help me? I have no money to feed my baby.”

John hated the thought of a baby starving, so he gave her ten dollars.

“Thank you sir,” she said. 

The blanket fell away, revealing the baby’s face—the face of a Cabbage Patch doll.  As John turned away disgustedly, Sally grabbed his arm.

“Don’t go to the MiniMart, John!” she rasped. “Promise!”

“How do you know my name?” 

“Promise!”

“Okay!  I have no reason to go there now anyway,” John grumbled, pulling his arm away.  “I gave you all my money!”

That night, the MiniMart was closed.  A news report said an armed robbery took place there at 9:00 that morning.  Two people were killed. John realized he would have been in the store during the robbery if Sally had not detained him.

“How did she know what would happen?” he wondered.  “How did she know my name?”

The next day, John visited a homeless shelter and described Sally to the shelter manager. The man looked sad.  “Sally went insane when her baby died.  She began carrying that doll everywhere and sleeping in the street.  Are you a relative?”

“No, she saved my life yesterday and I want to thank her,” John replied.

Now the man looked scared.  “You couldn’t have seen Sally yesterday!” he said.  “She died last year!”