Shopping Day.

           Tiny stretches as he leans back in his chair, beads of sweat drip down his nose onto his gut that is poking thru his old, and ribbed tank top. Despite his small name Tiny was quite large, and even had a big voice to go with his small stature name. Some teased his name referred to having a small penis, usually Tiny would either join in the laughter, or with enough beer in his system he would whip it out and prove whoever dared challenge his size, wrong. With a labored grunt to get out of the squeaking recliner he huffs until he is standing where again he moans in complaint for having to move. His heavy footsteps stumble over to the house phone which was covered in filth like his shirt. As the dial tone rings in his ears, he dials the number to his only trusted friend and fellow fiend Griggs. “Damn it! Pick up the phone you darn addict.” Tiny grumbles to himself while breathing hard from his walk from recliner to house phone, maybe a total of six feet of torture for this lazy man.

Tiny slams the phone onto the receiver before Griggs could answer. “God Damn it!” He puts his hand over his face wiping off the sweat while cursing under his breath. As Tiny was about to walk away the high-pitched ting of his house phone begins. Bbrrrrring! Bbrrrriiiing! “Griggs?” He asked. “Damn it Tiny, what is it? Don’t you know what time it is?” Before Tiny could answer a whine comes from the back of his trailer home, followed by another, and then another, until Tiny finally yelled in his deep bellowing voice for the noise to “Shut up! Before I shut you up!” then there was finally silence except for Griggs calling Tiny’s name over and over. “Tiny? Tiny? God Damn it Tiny, what was that?” You could hear the panic in Griggs southern accent. “I need you to come over, we got some something to take care of.” Tiny speaks sternly to Griggs as his pale skin glistened from his sweat beads. “What do we gotta take care of huh? You got another one already? I’ll be over, but for a price!” Click!

Griggs begin to mumble to himself under his breath frustrated with Tiny. “Stupid son of a… Dumb mother…. Oh, I swear to Jesus!” Griggs grabs a pencil and a piece of scrap paper and begins to scribble things down. “Mmmk, we’ll need some of this stuff, and some of that stuff. Yeah.” He whispers as he jots items down on his shopping list. Satisfied he shoves the list into his front shirt pocket. “Elaine! Honey I’ll be home later, probably tonight.” He shouts as he makes his way down the hall and into his bedroom. Glancing in the dusty mirror beside his bed he dawns a hat to cover his red hair and runs his finger along his ginger five-o-clock shadow. “That’ll have to wait.” He speaks to himself. “What’ll have to wait honey?” The blond woman in his bed rolls over to touch him, she was small, and unhealthily skinny. “Elaine I gotta go help Tiny. I’ll be back later, most likely late.” He kisses her skinny face and leaves her in bed. The track marks on both of their arms told their story of addiction, and Tiny used this to his advantage every time.

Arriving at Tiny’s the sun was just peeking out from behind the hills and corn fields – the only thing you’d see for miles and miles- Griggs got lost in thought before knocking on the screen door just to let himself inside. “Tiny? Hey, like I said this will cost ya.” Griggs looks towards the end of the hall way where he could hear whimpering, whining, wheezing and crying. “Tiny man, another woman? What happened this time? As a matter of fact, I don’t want to know, here.” Griggs shoves the list to Tiny who takes it and opens the crumpled paper.

·      Zip Ties

·      Duct Tape

·      Painters plastic

·      Gloves

·      Garbage bags

·      One bag of cement

·      garden hose

“What the hell is the hose for?” Tiny asked perplexed. Griggs smiles showing a total of four teeth left in his mouth. “So, it don’t look like were hiding a body.” Tiny looked at Griggs like he lost his god damn mind. “A garden hose is supposed to throw them off? What the hell is wrong with you?” Tiny smacks Griggs with the paper.

           Griggs distracted again by the crying from down the hallway loses his train of thought and focuses on the sad sounds, suddenly realizing their silent pleas for help. “Just give me my shit and well go get this done.” Griggs says with a hand out to Tiny, regaining his thought process. Tiny hands Griggs a small sack filled with a white, rocky substance, the amount given seemed to be enough for Griggs and the two headed for the front door. “Hold up, I need to take care of something.” Tiny puts a hoodie sweatshirt on over his filthy belly and walks towards the end of the house. Griggs exits and heads for the car before he heard anything that might make him change his mind. Bing, Bing, Bing! Griggs looked down at his cell phone which hasn’t stopped going off since he left his house. ‘do you have molly?’ Was the first text he saw from his wife at home, he assumed she meant the drug and was on a come down enough to bother him until he answered. “I’ll get you some later damn.” He says to himself while turning off his phone.

           Tiny comes walking out of his trailer home wiping his hands and face on a paper towel before tossing it aside in a heap of trash next to his front porch. You could smell the garbage emanating from this square block for miles around, it made Griggs sick. The car drops suddenly when Tiny hops in the passenger seat. “We can get all this stuff from that new hardware store in town, let’s go.” Tiny said to Griggs with a huff. “Alright, let’s get to it. say, what did you do to her in there?” Tiny smiles wide at Griggs question and replies simply enough. “I made sure she would stay quiet until we got back.” Griggs didn’t respond, he only pulled out of the drive way and headed into town.

           Sarah had just started her new job at the local hardware store when Tiny and Griggs walked in, she immediately crinkled her nose at their odor. “Welcome to Too Many Tools and Hardware Store, can I help you find anything today sir?” She was perky, with a perfect smile. Her long red hair matched her freckled face almost to perfect, and her green eyes stopped anybody in their tracks when they looked into them. “Well hell, Griggs is this your long-lost sister?” Tiny jokes. “That’s not funny, my sister is safe at home in her bed, and she is nowhere near as beautiful as you miss.” Griggs says turning to the young woman. “Ha-ha, well if you need help with anything, I’ll be right over there.” She walks away towards the counter. “Actually miss, umm Sarah! Sarah could you point me in the direction of uh, garden hoses?” Tiny laughs at his remark. “Isle three.” She points them in the right direction. As Tiny and Griggs walk towards ‘Isle 3’ the list of items falls from Tiny’s pocket before he can get it fully in. Sarah waits for them to disappear before she rushes over to pick up the piece of paper. Retreating to the safety of her counter she unfolds it and skims the faint pencil marks. “Duct tape? Gloves? What on earth?” a whiff of garbage fills her nose and she tucks the paper safely away in her apron pocket. Tiny and Griggs emerge from Isle 3 with a cheap garden hose and head towards the cement with a trolley. Something about them made her suspicious and uneasy, from their odor to the list in her pocket. Her stomached churned as they disappeared again behind another isle, down there they’d find duct tape and zip ties.

           Sarah relocates to the back of the store where her father the owner and store manager was sitting in his office. “Hey honey, everything ok?” He asks, peering over his glasses. “I’m not sure, there are two smelly men shopping for odd things, here, they dropped their shopping list. Dad they creep me out.” Sarah hands her father the list. “Zip ties? Duct tape? A garden hose? Honey they could be remodeling a garden.” He looks to Sarah with a smile. “Hmm, that would explain the odor, I don’t know dad.” Sarah and her father turn their heads hearing the familiar ding, ding of the checkout bell. “Alright Sarah you stay back here and I’ll go assist the customers.” Sarah nods in agreement staying in the back room, safe from the strangers in the store. “Well hello their fellas! Ready to check out?” He asks Tiny and Griggs enthusiastically. “Why hello there Ronald.” Griggs replies in a raspy voice reading Ron’s name tag. “You fellas remodeling a garden? I have just the thing you need for those pesky tree trunks if your interested?” Ron smiles wide at the two, feeling them out, trying to see what creeped his daughter out so much. “Now, look here Ron. You can go ahead and put this here water hose back and send that sweet little lady up here to check us out.” Tiny says to Ron while Griggs chuckles to himself. “I’ll go ahead and put the hose aside, and my daughter is on break so I will be helping you gentlemen.” Ron tries hard to keep his composure, but he easily gets defensive when it comes to his daughter Sarah. “Shame, she is something nice to look at amongst all these tools and dirt.” Tiny says as Ron rings him up. “That’ll be thirty-two fifty.” Ron says with a smile putting all the items in a plastic bag. Griggs pulls out his wallet to pay while Tiny violently grabs the bag and the two head out the door.

           Ron watches intently as they exit before returning to Sarah. “I see what you mean darlin. They were strange fellows alright. I think I’m going to notify Sheriff Litchlind just to stay safe.” Sarah nods at her father watching him pick up the phone to dial the Sheriff. “Sheriffs Litchlind’s office how may I assist you today?” The operator sounded familiar to Sarah. “Hey there Dolly It’s Ronald from the hardware store… We had some strange characters and they behind a concerning list…. Yes…OK… Thank you Dolly, Yes, he was rather large and the other skinny, they both stunk and were very short with me… hmm mhh. OK great thank you and tell Sheriff to be safe, like I said they were different. OK. Bye bye.” Ron hangs up the phone and looks to Sarah. “Dolly said she thinks she knows who were talking about and the Sheriff is looking into it, he’ll be by for the list shortly. Sarah smiles at her father feeling safer knowing that the authorities were notified.

           As Tiny and Griggs pull up to Tiny’s trailer home they both partake in a smoke session of some questionably white substance in a pipe. “ha-ha, alright now Griggs you head home and I’ll take care of the rest.” Tiny says to his friend from the passenger seat. Sounding concerned Griggs replies. “Are you sure? You normally don’t like doing these things alone, and I’ve never seen you do this to a woman before.” Tiny turns to Griggs with an intent look on his face. “Some Woman need to disappear just like some men do.” Then he steps out of the car, bag in hand and walks towards his disgusting home leaving Griggs, high as a kite and stumped. Griggs shakes his head as if shaking the scenario from his mind and pulls out his cell phone to turn it back on. “Thirty-three missed calls what the hell?” He redials Elaine's number to see what her problem was. “What is it?” he asks annoyed still sitting in the driveway. “Jefferey Griggs! Where is Molly? She was here last night for bed and now she’s gone? I am worried sick!” Elaine frantically explains how she’s been pacing the house and called around the hospitals in an attempt to figure out the location of Griggs younger sister Molly who stayed with them from time to time. “Calm down, she probably went off to find her fix again.” Griggs rubs his temples. “She is sixteen Jeff, and we got her clean! We didn’t want this life for her! Find her now Jeffery!” Elaine hangs up before he can answer, or explain that he had caught her sneaking drugs out of their stash this entire time. They had run dry which meant so was she, she probably went off looking for more. Tiny was the only drug dealer they knew, so he decides it’s best to double check with Tiny to see if he had seen her.

           Just leaving the hardware store Sheriff Litchlind exams the shopping list and description of customers provided by Sarah and Ronald. He hops in his cruiser and calls in over the radio. “This is Sheriff Litchlind, leaving main street headed towards Buffalo Springs road, requesting backup. If this is who I think it is Dolly send my backup units please, and thank you.” He sets the list in his pocketbook and heads towards the dirty side of town, where Tiny and Griggs were up to no good. “God damn it Tiny, what are you and that pet of yours up to?” He asks as he heads towards his destination.

           Griggs walked into Tiny’s house without a knock on the door and instantly felt uneasy. He stays quiet while he walks the length of the nasty hallway where he heard whimpers earlier that day. “Tiny?” He asks the silence. Griggs pushes open the bedroom door and sees a scene that made him gag on his own vomit. The scent of feces, and urine filled the air, the mattress was ripped to shreds and covered in what looked like blood and shit. The once white walls were littered with smears and hand prints, wrappers, needles and other misc. items cluttered the rest of the room. “what the hell did you do in here?” he quietly asks himself while examining the belts and straps connected to the posts on the bed, they to were blood soaked. Griggs leaves and head to the dilapidated shed behind the poor excuse of a trailer home where he sees Tiny standing over what looked like a small woman. “Tiny? Man? Hey you seen Molly? Elaine is screaming my ear off here; I need to find her before I go home? What the hell? Tiny!” Griggs eyes widen as Tiny moves revealing the small woman's face to Griggs, it was his sister Molly. “Tiny what did you do? She’s not moving! Molly!” Griggs drops down beside his sister, grabbing her face, checking her pulse and cradling her lifeless body in his arms stunned. “She didn’t want to pay Griggs, I swear I didn’t know it was your sister, she grew up. She didn’t pay Griggs.” Tiny still with what looked like a baseball bat in hand tried to defend himself. “You’re nuts man, she’s my little sister, this is Molly Tiny, Molly! What did you do? Why isn’t she moving?” Griggs sobbed as he held her tight.

           Before Tiny could try to defend his position further they hear the familiar Blerp, Blerp! Of a police vehicle. “Oh, shit the cops, Griggs did you call the cops on me man?” Tiny drops the bloodied bat and takes off running in the woods behind the shed, leaving Griggs alone to grieve over his murdered baby sister. “Sheriff! Sheriff! Over here!” Griggs shouts thru his sobs. “Tiny did it, he hurt her, he hurt Molly, sheriff I swear I didn’t know.” Griggs buries his face in Molly’s hair and sobs. “Which way did he go Griggs?” Sheriff Litchlind asks. Griggs points and the Sheriff takes off running while radioing in backup and an ambulance.

           Tiny quickly looses his breath and has to sit and a fallen tree to regain composure, his body is shaking all over from his exercise and he is drenched in sweat. “Tiny?! You better stop running wherever you are I will shoot! Tiny? You know, you can a lot about a man by his shopping list; and I saw what you did to Molly Griggs. You’re done, it’s over, give up! Tiny!” The sheriff precedes deeper into the woods to find Tiny panting on a log, unable to move from his muscles tensing up. “You bastard I’d kill you too if I could move my damn body!” Tiny spits at the Sheriff. “Tiny, you are under arrest for the murder of Molly Griggs, you have the right to remain silent.” As the sheriff proceeds to recite Tiny’s rights the paramedics confirm Molly’s death and wheel her away in a body bag. If only Griggs had known, if only he had gone to see who was whimpering for life in the back of the trailer, he could have saved her. He hits himself over and over trying to comprehend what had just happened. He shopped for the murder restraints used to murder his beloved little sister, he helped who he thought was his buddy kill her. As Tiny and Sheriff Litchlind emerge from the woods, another officer arrests Griggs as an accessory to murder. Sobbing, Griggs looks to Tiny one last time and pleads. “Why? Just why?” Tiny smiles and says. “You can tell a lot about a man, by what his shopping list looks like Griggs. ha-ha-ha." With that statement Tiny and Griggs new their story was in fact over. As the coroner wheeled Molly away Griggs wriggled in his cuffs, heart hurt and confused, he scowled at Tiny one last time before deciding he would need to avenge the wrongful death of his beloved little sister.