They had been “forced to let him go”.Their loss - plenty of other people wanted Martin’s experience and anyway he had begun to despise that oppressively-controlled company. The queue was not moving. Martin needed to get home; she’d be waiting for him. How long did it take to buy a fucking ready- meal? No, he must not swear, he knew what Susan thought about it and he wasn’t sure he could bear anymore of her criticism. Susan, his sweet tyrant. Sophie was still pirouetting merrily around the Susan look- alike. He’d forgotten how innocent children were. She’d grow up, lose her naivety. Soon the world would corrupt her with the cold malevolence of authority. And yet Martin marvelled that she could twirl in her spotlight of fluorescent strips, carefree in her freedom. The structured artificial lighting jarred with Martin.He gazed up, needing to see the world outside, and saw, to his relief, a grimy narrow skylight.The autumnal tepid sunlight earlier that day was being replaced by a deathly, thundery night. Martin continued to stare up, mesmerised by the inscrutable swirling hoard of clouds. The first shocking punch of thunder sounded, and Martin was dazed by its potency, its fists repeatedly battering the defenceless sky with deafening strength. He doubted whether anyone else in the shop had noticed the sky outside. It was strange that his senses appeared so much more receptive than the other shoppers’. They were all continuing their existence, unaware or uninterested by the torment going on outside their immediate lives. The bachelor obeyed instructions and entered his card into the chip and pin device, jabbing in his number without looking at the screen. He quickly made way for the store’s exit. Shopping-Susan eventually met her counterpart; they displayed no hint of familiarity. The sky had fallen silent, motionless and listless.
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