It only took me two days to write this thats my fastest ever.
The Vendor: Inspired by Actual Events
I got the news that morning about the new site on my vending route, not regularly a problem especially since I get a cut of the gross on new accounts. However this one was way out in Fruitvale, which is an all day trip a long drive with no other stops. Normally I would have gone for a site so far away, but the sales have been ridiculously high since the new attendant took over. So I got up early that morning and headed out to the site.
After about two hours of driving I spied a small turn-off into the woods. I quickly swung the van around the corner, knocking over most of my product. A couple of minutes later it came into view, an old building no bigger than my old apartment. I pulled up into the parking lot and unpacked my bins onto my wheeled cart. The place was surprisingly clean, now I have seen quite a few rest stops over my career and this one was immaculate. Not a touch of graffiti on the walls and the floor was spotless; I almost wanted to live there.
I found the machines over in the corner and they were near empty. I started to fill up the slots with different chips and snacks, when I heard someone behind me.
“Hello, who are you?”
I turn around to see a woman in her mid 30’s standing in the doorway staring at me.
“Hello my name is Eric, I am the new vendor for this rest stop.” I make my way to shake her hand.
“Hello Eric, I’m Tina. I run this rest stop, and I had just mopped this floor.” I looked down to see a trail of footprints leading from the door to the machines where I was standing.
“Oh I am sorry I didn’t notice.” I was embarrassed at my first impression.
“Well it’s alright, but so I won’t have to mop all day can I just hold onto your shoes until your done.”
“Yeah sure.” I wasn’t going to say no after just messing up the floor, and I guess I didn’t see the harm. I bent down and untied my shoes and handed them to Tina.
“I will have them in the maintenance room when you’re done, just come and knock.”
“Yeah, and sorry again about the floor.” I went back to filling the machines. After about ten minutes it hit me how hot it was in there. I took my hoodie and placed it on top of the machines.
“Are you hot already?” Tina asked as she mopped up my mess.
“It gets the blood pumping lifting this heavy snacks.” I laughed.
“Yeah well nice shirt,” she commented about my cutoff t-shirt and button-up denim long sleeve.
“Hey it is laundry day today. What can I say?”
“Not much I guess.” And she went back to mopping.
I had finished filling up the candy machine and was packing up my gear when I felt something wet slop against my foot.
“What the…”
“Oh I am sorry, I got you didn’t I?” I looked down to see that she had mopped over my right foot.
“That’s okay I guess I am done anyway, and with all afternoon to spare.” I headed over to the maintenance room my sock squishing on the tile floor. “If I can just get my shoes I will be ready to go.” Tina led me into the room and pointed to a chair in the middle of the room.
“This place seems a little off the beaten track, how do you pass the time.” I asked as I laced up my left shoe.
“This place never gets any people. But it is a historic site and needs to be maintained.” I can hear her talking behind me. “But as for passing the time I do have a little hobby.” She walks back in front of me with a roll of duct tape.
“What’s that?” I say not even looking up.
“Keeping a clean rest stop by any means necessary.” She says as she wraps my wrists together with the tape.
“What the hell?” I snap back in my chair trying to pull away. “Get off me.”
“I will show you what happens when someone messes up my floors.” She looped a rope between my wrists and tossed it over a ceiling beam; cinching me up and almost out of my chair.
“I am really sorry about the floors, I swear, I didn’t mean to.” I tried to plead with her.
“But you did it and now you have to be punished.” She tied off the rope to a hook on the wall.
“Please, you don’t have to do this. I won’t wear shoes in here again. I won’t tell anyone about this.”
“I know you won’t.” She smiled at me as she placed a piece of tape over my mouth. “And as for wearing shoes in here again, we’ll see what happens.”
I stared at her hoping that this was just some kind of weird joke since I was new. I should have just been hoping for the world to end.
“You know when I said this was a historic site I wasn’t kidding.” I watched her disappear into a small storage room. “The local courts use this building as a museum for all its antiques. I found this one day while clearing out some garbage, it is probably over two hundred years old, but it should do the trick. You know how they built things in the old days.”
She emerged from the back room pushing an object covered by a dust blanket. Maneuvering the item directly in front of me, Tina removed the dust cover and my eyes grew wide. “You see this pair of stocks was used to punish people of crimes that were not serious enough for jail time. Kind of like you Eric.” I yelled for her to stop, but my protests came out as nothing more than muffled groans. Tina unhooked the latches on the stocks and pulled the top board off.
“Alright Eric are you going to help me out and put your feet up or am I going to force you?” I grunted a no as best I could and shook my head. “I see well you leave me no choice.” She moved around behind me and dug her fingernails into my sides. I cried out with laughter and jerked violently, after only a couple of minutes she stopped. I sat there breathing heavily and trying to recover myself.
“Well how about now?” she smirked as I swung my legs up into the holes cut out of the stocks. “Well Eric how nice of you to volunteer your services, thank you.” The top board fit tightly back into place and with a flick of the latch I was trapped. Tina circled me admiring her handy work.
“You know Eric, if you hadn’t messed up my floors you wouldn’t be here right now.” Suddenly Tina stopped dead in her tracks. “What is this?” motioning to a puddle of water on the floor. “For goodness sakes Eric, what did we just talk about. I suppose you would say this is my fault for running the mop over your foot. Fine then, I guess I will have to be the one to take care of it.” Running her fingers up my leg until she found the top of my wet sock, Tina slowly pulled it over my heel and off my foot.
“Why don’t I just get rid of this nasty thing?” walking over to the furnace, all I could do was sit and watch as she opened the door and threw it in. “Well now that that’s taken care of I have a surprise for you,” she pulled up a chair at the end of the stocks, rested her arms on the top, looked at me wickedly and said “I was just going to let you sit here and think about what you had done for a couple of hours. But a new and more pleasurable idea has come to me.” At that moment I felt a single nail scratch up and down my right foot. I jerked my foot back as far as it would go in the stocks, which was not that far. “Oh boy looks like this will be fun.”
Nails scrambled up and down my sole as I laughed uncontrollably into the duct tape. I thrashed and twisted in vain attempts to escape. One set of nails became two as a second group started attacking the top of my foot. I strained with all my might but it is no use the stocks hold firm. The next few minutes are a blur of tickling nails and me squirming for freedom. After what seemed like an hour the tickling stopped. The chair squeaked as Tina stood up and headed for her supply shelf.
“I have some scrubbing to do so you stay here, I will be back in a minute.” I watched as she filled up a small blue bucket with soap and water, grabbing a scrub brush off the shelf, she sat back in her chair. “See I told you I would be back, now lets get scrubbin’.” Horror gripped my body and I frantically started shaking my head in protest. Without hesitation Tina dipped the brush into the water and started scrubbing on my socked left foot, the laughing bubbled right up and out of me.
“This sock is filthy I can’t believe I let you walk on my floor with these. This is going to take me a very long time.” A wicked smile crept across her face as she scrubbed away. “Well would you look at that.” Tina placed the brush back in the bucket, looking at my foot quizzically. “Why it would appear is if you sock has a worn spot in it.” A single finger snaked through the hole and flicked at my arch, I immediately tense up waiting for the impending onslaught, there is no tickling as the finger withdraws. Tina grabs a pair of scissors of a nearby desk, pulls on the toe of my sock, and cuts from one side to the other. The sock falls back down, exposing my toes and the ball of my left foot. Tina traces her finger under my toes as she tosses away the cutoff piece of sock. Retrieving the brush from the bucket she attacked the ball of my left foot, and scrambled her nails on the sole of my right. It continued on and on, about the time I though I was going to pass out she stopped.
“Ok this is how it’s going to be.” I was dripping with sweat and breathing heavily, I could barely hold my head up. “You are never again going to make a mess in here like you did today. I work very hard and I want it to stay that way. So I may have to come up with some rules, I will let you know; also the vending machine must always be full. I do buy a lot of products from there so you will probably have to come out twice a week, three times if I deem it necessary. Are we agreed?” I would have agreed to anything at that point just to get away, and I could stand to oblige her with some rules, I nodded my head in agreement.
“Oh good I am so happy we worked this out. I would hate for this to be like the last vendor who serviced this building he never could abide by the rules. I would hate for this to turn out the same way.” She glared at me intently. “And just so we are clear, if you don’t follow my simple rules I will be forced to punish you.” I screamed with laughter as she raked her nails over my soles again. I nodded fiercely hoping she would let me go. “Good then I will let you be on your way.” Tina unhooked the stocks and cut free my arms, I scrambled to put on my shoes and get out.
“Uh are you going to mark up the floor already? You haven’t learned much have you?” I took my shoes back off and walked outside, lacing them up just outside the door. “Good, I see we have an understanding. I will see you in a couple of days then, bye Eric nice meeting you.” As I reloaded my van I tried to imagine any way that I could stand to work with this woman. Only one idea came to mind, revenge.
The Vendor: Inspired by Actual Events
I got the news that morning about the new site on my vending route, not regularly a problem especially since I get a cut of the gross on new accounts. However this one was way out in Fruitvale, which is an all day trip a long drive with no other stops. Normally I would have gone for a site so far away, but the sales have been ridiculously high since the new attendant took over. So I got up early that morning and headed out to the site.
After about two hours of driving I spied a small turn-off into the woods. I quickly swung the van around the corner, knocking over most of my product. A couple of minutes later it came into view, an old building no bigger than my old apartment. I pulled up into the parking lot and unpacked my bins onto my wheeled cart. The place was surprisingly clean, now I have seen quite a few rest stops over my career and this one was immaculate. Not a touch of graffiti on the walls and the floor was spotless; I almost wanted to live there.
I found the machines over in the corner and they were near empty. I started to fill up the slots with different chips and snacks, when I heard someone behind me.
“Hello, who are you?”
I turn around to see a woman in her mid 30’s standing in the doorway staring at me.
“Hello my name is Eric, I am the new vendor for this rest stop.” I make my way to shake her hand.
“Hello Eric, I’m Tina. I run this rest stop, and I had just mopped this floor.” I looked down to see a trail of footprints leading from the door to the machines where I was standing.
“Oh I am sorry I didn’t notice.” I was embarrassed at my first impression.
“Well it’s alright, but so I won’t have to mop all day can I just hold onto your shoes until your done.”
“Yeah sure.” I wasn’t going to say no after just messing up the floor, and I guess I didn’t see the harm. I bent down and untied my shoes and handed them to Tina.
“I will have them in the maintenance room when you’re done, just come and knock.”
“Yeah, and sorry again about the floor.” I went back to filling the machines. After about ten minutes it hit me how hot it was in there. I took my hoodie and placed it on top of the machines.
“Are you hot already?” Tina asked as she mopped up my mess.
“It gets the blood pumping lifting this heavy snacks.” I laughed.
“Yeah well nice shirt,” she commented about my cutoff t-shirt and button-up denim long sleeve.
“Hey it is laundry day today. What can I say?”
“Not much I guess.” And she went back to mopping.
I had finished filling up the candy machine and was packing up my gear when I felt something wet slop against my foot.
“What the…”
“Oh I am sorry, I got you didn’t I?” I looked down to see that she had mopped over my right foot.
“That’s okay I guess I am done anyway, and with all afternoon to spare.” I headed over to the maintenance room my sock squishing on the tile floor. “If I can just get my shoes I will be ready to go.” Tina led me into the room and pointed to a chair in the middle of the room.
“This place seems a little off the beaten track, how do you pass the time.” I asked as I laced up my left shoe.
“This place never gets any people. But it is a historic site and needs to be maintained.” I can hear her talking behind me. “But as for passing the time I do have a little hobby.” She walks back in front of me with a roll of duct tape.
“What’s that?” I say not even looking up.
“Keeping a clean rest stop by any means necessary.” She says as she wraps my wrists together with the tape.
“What the hell?” I snap back in my chair trying to pull away. “Get off me.”
“I will show you what happens when someone messes up my floors.” She looped a rope between my wrists and tossed it over a ceiling beam; cinching me up and almost out of my chair.
“I am really sorry about the floors, I swear, I didn’t mean to.” I tried to plead with her.
“But you did it and now you have to be punished.” She tied off the rope to a hook on the wall.
“Please, you don’t have to do this. I won’t wear shoes in here again. I won’t tell anyone about this.”
“I know you won’t.” She smiled at me as she placed a piece of tape over my mouth. “And as for wearing shoes in here again, we’ll see what happens.”
I stared at her hoping that this was just some kind of weird joke since I was new. I should have just been hoping for the world to end.
“You know when I said this was a historic site I wasn’t kidding.” I watched her disappear into a small storage room. “The local courts use this building as a museum for all its antiques. I found this one day while clearing out some garbage, it is probably over two hundred years old, but it should do the trick. You know how they built things in the old days.”
She emerged from the back room pushing an object covered by a dust blanket. Maneuvering the item directly in front of me, Tina removed the dust cover and my eyes grew wide. “You see this pair of stocks was used to punish people of crimes that were not serious enough for jail time. Kind of like you Eric.” I yelled for her to stop, but my protests came out as nothing more than muffled groans. Tina unhooked the latches on the stocks and pulled the top board off.
“Alright Eric are you going to help me out and put your feet up or am I going to force you?” I grunted a no as best I could and shook my head. “I see well you leave me no choice.” She moved around behind me and dug her fingernails into my sides. I cried out with laughter and jerked violently, after only a couple of minutes she stopped. I sat there breathing heavily and trying to recover myself.
“Well how about now?” she smirked as I swung my legs up into the holes cut out of the stocks. “Well Eric how nice of you to volunteer your services, thank you.” The top board fit tightly back into place and with a flick of the latch I was trapped. Tina circled me admiring her handy work.
“You know Eric, if you hadn’t messed up my floors you wouldn’t be here right now.” Suddenly Tina stopped dead in her tracks. “What is this?” motioning to a puddle of water on the floor. “For goodness sakes Eric, what did we just talk about. I suppose you would say this is my fault for running the mop over your foot. Fine then, I guess I will have to be the one to take care of it.” Running her fingers up my leg until she found the top of my wet sock, Tina slowly pulled it over my heel and off my foot.
“Why don’t I just get rid of this nasty thing?” walking over to the furnace, all I could do was sit and watch as she opened the door and threw it in. “Well now that that’s taken care of I have a surprise for you,” she pulled up a chair at the end of the stocks, rested her arms on the top, looked at me wickedly and said “I was just going to let you sit here and think about what you had done for a couple of hours. But a new and more pleasurable idea has come to me.” At that moment I felt a single nail scratch up and down my right foot. I jerked my foot back as far as it would go in the stocks, which was not that far. “Oh boy looks like this will be fun.”
Nails scrambled up and down my sole as I laughed uncontrollably into the duct tape. I thrashed and twisted in vain attempts to escape. One set of nails became two as a second group started attacking the top of my foot. I strained with all my might but it is no use the stocks hold firm. The next few minutes are a blur of tickling nails and me squirming for freedom. After what seemed like an hour the tickling stopped. The chair squeaked as Tina stood up and headed for her supply shelf.
“I have some scrubbing to do so you stay here, I will be back in a minute.” I watched as she filled up a small blue bucket with soap and water, grabbing a scrub brush off the shelf, she sat back in her chair. “See I told you I would be back, now lets get scrubbin’.” Horror gripped my body and I frantically started shaking my head in protest. Without hesitation Tina dipped the brush into the water and started scrubbing on my socked left foot, the laughing bubbled right up and out of me.
“This sock is filthy I can’t believe I let you walk on my floor with these. This is going to take me a very long time.” A wicked smile crept across her face as she scrubbed away. “Well would you look at that.” Tina placed the brush back in the bucket, looking at my foot quizzically. “Why it would appear is if you sock has a worn spot in it.” A single finger snaked through the hole and flicked at my arch, I immediately tense up waiting for the impending onslaught, there is no tickling as the finger withdraws. Tina grabs a pair of scissors of a nearby desk, pulls on the toe of my sock, and cuts from one side to the other. The sock falls back down, exposing my toes and the ball of my left foot. Tina traces her finger under my toes as she tosses away the cutoff piece of sock. Retrieving the brush from the bucket she attacked the ball of my left foot, and scrambled her nails on the sole of my right. It continued on and on, about the time I though I was going to pass out she stopped.
“Ok this is how it’s going to be.” I was dripping with sweat and breathing heavily, I could barely hold my head up. “You are never again going to make a mess in here like you did today. I work very hard and I want it to stay that way. So I may have to come up with some rules, I will let you know; also the vending machine must always be full. I do buy a lot of products from there so you will probably have to come out twice a week, three times if I deem it necessary. Are we agreed?” I would have agreed to anything at that point just to get away, and I could stand to oblige her with some rules, I nodded my head in agreement.
“Oh good I am so happy we worked this out. I would hate for this to be like the last vendor who serviced this building he never could abide by the rules. I would hate for this to turn out the same way.” She glared at me intently. “And just so we are clear, if you don’t follow my simple rules I will be forced to punish you.” I screamed with laughter as she raked her nails over my soles again. I nodded fiercely hoping she would let me go. “Good then I will let you be on your way.” Tina unhooked the stocks and cut free my arms, I scrambled to put on my shoes and get out.
“Uh are you going to mark up the floor already? You haven’t learned much have you?” I took my shoes back off and walked outside, lacing them up just outside the door. “Good, I see we have an understanding. I will see you in a couple of days then, bye Eric nice meeting you.” As I reloaded my van I tried to imagine any way that I could stand to work with this woman. Only one idea came to mind, revenge.
