“I hate markets,” Cassie grumbled irritably, fingers massaging her calves as she sat hunched forward in the front passenger seat of her sister’s car. She glared angrily at the alleyway filled with vendors plying their wares and customers mingling between them.
“You love food though,” Her elder sister Dana retorted, rolling her eyes. Dana was in the driver’s seat as the car crawled slowly along, locked in the traffic that usually flooded the streets surrounding the market on market days.
“I love food,” Cassie insisted. “I hate markets. You know I break out in hives.”
“Well someone has to get out and go into the market or else we won’t have any food,” Dana shrugged. “And I can’t do it. I’m driving.”
“Fine!” Cassie gritted her teeth and thrust her door open.
“Ouch!” There was a muffled cry as a pedestrian collided with the door. It was a woman, tugging a grimy faced little boy, who had stepped out into the street just at the same time.
“Will you look at what you’re doing?” the woman fumed.
“I’m sorry!” Cassie squeaked, quickly jumping out of the car and slamming the door shut, staring laser beams at her sister.
Muttering, the woman kept on moving, the little boy’s hand clasped tightly in hers, and soon they disappeared into the crowd.
Cassie turned again to face the alleyway, breathing in slowly and willing herself not to think of the itch already forming near her ankles.
The alley was wet. There had been a light rain earlier in the morning, and though it was no longer falling, the sky was overcast. Here and there she could see puddles of muddy water filled with vegetable ends and other debris. No one else seemed to notice, but Cassie cringed at the thought of the water splashing up onto her legs. She chewed her lips.
“Tomatoes,” she whispered. “Tomatoes and onions, we need those.”
She stepped forward.
“Potatoes,” called a male vendor as she walked past. “Come get your potatoes here. You can have for $5 a pound.”
Another vendor whose cart was piled high with cauliflowers asked, “Are you shopping today, Miss?” Cassie shook her head slightly and kept on walking.
Truthfully, she thought, the market was an exciting space full of myriad sights and sounds, and maybe she could have enjoyed exploring it, heading off the alleyway and into the deep corners of the shops that opened onto the streets. Usually you’d find nice silks and sometimes even great jewelry there.
She would love to be able to explore, but she couldn’t because, oh, the itch had crept up from her ankles and were now pinpricks all across her calves. She clenched her hands into fists, nails cutting into her palms, and stood still in front of a cart of carrots.
The cart’s vendor looked at her for a few minutes, smiling expectantly, before realizing that she did not intend to shop and moving on to another potential customer.
Cassie wanted to cry. This happened to her every time. She couldn’t control her wandering mind, and whenever she thought of the germs and the rotting vegetables and garbage, rodent droppings and dog poo, her skin went crazy.
For a moment, the alley swam before her eyes. Carts and wheelbarrows trundled past her while she stood still. She thought Dana might be making her way around to pass in front of the alleyway again. She should have been out by now, waiting to get back into the car, but she still hadn’t made it to buy the most basic things.
The vendor selling the tomatoes and onions was almost at the other end of the alleyway, Cassie knew. But on the bright side, the meats weren’t far off from there either, and maybe she’d be able to look around for some beans. If she could make it quickly to the end, she’d be able to get back out in a flash, and then she could settle back into the car and pour sanitizer all over her legs.
As she planned her next steps, Cassie glimpsed the woman and the grubby faced little boy she had run into earlier wending their way through the carts. Her eyes slipped over them at first, barely registering recognition, but something caught her eye and she snapped back.
The woman was engaging another shopper in conversation while the little boy swiftly slipped his hand into the unsuspecting man’s pocket, relieving him of cash, before coming to stand innocently at the woman’s side. Glancing down at him, the woman nodded to the man, grabbed the boy’s hand and moved off.
Cassie’s heart thudded. Her tongue was dry, but she knew she had to do something.
Heart racing as she desperately patted her own empty pockets, she screamed, “THIEF!!”
Guys, every week, the Freewriters' Community posts a challenge titled, "A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words". The prompt is a picture, and you're encouraged to write a story or poem representing your interpretation of the picture. Here's the link connecting us to this week's contest. Please participate if you can, there's still one more day for the contest.
For my entry, I explored the story of a shopper who finds herself in the midst of an alley of shoppers, customers, pedestrians and thieves.