Part I
Chanice dreaded coming to work on Thursday nights. Although she's been working as the night clerk at the Filler Gas Convienent Store and Filling Station for over a year, she'd been required to drive 40 miles away from her home to a completely different area. In fact, it was in another city. She'd been working at, as she often put it, "the store in the hood" eversince she began the job. But when a few of her coworkers quit their jobs two months ago, the manager/owner of the franchised stores would schedule the beautiful mocha skinned 19 year old to fill in at his other store on Thursday nights. At first, she didn't mind until she realized that the other store was in a completely different atmosphere than she was used to. That is, it was in a predominantly white rural area. To make matters worse, she would often encounter the usual drunken guys trying to flirt with her simply because she was the only black person in the store, if not the entire area itself. However, she had her way of dealing with them. When her boyfriend was concerned, she simply told him,"Baby, I grew up in the hood so a few white boys shouldn't be much of a problem for me. Besides, those shrimp dicks can't handle a sistah like me anyway."
On a snowy November night, Chanice figured that it would be no different than any other night. She'd come in exactly at 9:50 PM, punched in, and position herself on a stool behind the cash register. She chatted with her coworker, Eric, just before he'd punch out and leave for home. They all shared a radio to listen to during the long boring evenings and nights and just before leaving, Eric informed Chanice of a possible snow storm.
"Be very careful, Chanice. The news reported that we may be having a snow storm coming later in the night. If you need anything out of your car, I would get it now if I was you. Try not to leave the store. Just stay here where it's warm.", Eric warned her.
"Thanks Eric, I'll be all right.", replied Chanice, "I'm just going to sit my happy ass in here and read some of the magazines as I do every night." Approximately 20 minutes later, Eric left for the night, leaving Chanice alone with the few customers there to purchase gas, cigarettes, and beer. The major items sold during the graveyard shift.
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The night was going pretty slow as usual for Chanice. There weren't as many customers as usual. It may have been due to the fact that the snow had picked up tremendously since she began her shift. Chanice noticed that the weather was not looking very good. "There is no way in hell anyone should be out here in this weather.", she thought. That was until 2 AM, when the Beckums men walked into the store to prepare for their monthly hunting trip. "Oh great, it's the redneck boys.", thought Chanice. The Beckums, Hank, Hank, Jr., and Sam headed towards the coolers to stock up on beer, cold cuts, cold drinks.
"Hey girlie, I see it's your night to be here again.", the older Hank told Chanice. She hated listening to them talk so she would say very little to them when they spoke to her. She could tell that they were only trying to be nice to the lil black girl behind the counter.
"Yep", is all she replied.
"Pretty cold out, huh? I'm hoping we can get to the hunting camp before this storm hits."
The three men were there what seemed like forever to Chanice. Suddenly, the powerful snow storm caused the lights to go out in the entire store, except for the emergency lights in the rear of the store that led to the office and restrooms. Knowing that the automatic security system caused the front doors to lock as well, Chanice didn't feel very comfortable. Not that she was scared of the Bechums in any way, she just didn't like them very much.
"Guys,", she proceeded to warn them, "I'll hate to say this but we might be here a while because the doors are locked."
"Just turn the latch, Sugar, and open them. That's all, right?", asked 20 year old Hank, Jr.
"I wish it was that easy but it's not. You see, only two people can open them. And that's my manager or the security company but I can't call any of them because the phones are dead. So just take it easy until this storm pass. Maybe it'll lighten up to a point that the electricity will come back on and you guys can be on your way.", Chanice assured the Beckums.
"So what can we do while we wait?", asked 18 year old Sam.
"Nothing but chill out. The heater is a gas heater so as long as that stays lit, at least we can remain warm."
However, the guys began getting bored with the first 30 minutes. They'd already gone through a couple of six packs of beers and were about to get rowdy.
"Guys, please calm down and wait this out. You won't be here that long, I'm sure. Just chill out."
The younger Hank said, "Sugar, we're bored. We're going to have to find something to do until this shit is over. And I got just the thing."
"What's that, sir?"