–From The How Did We Get Here Series–
Now: Dexter Lewis slid the Hershey Bar, lighter, and cigarettes from the plastic bag as Harris began driving away from the convenience store. Harris looked over and asked, “Where’d you get the cigarettes, bro?”
Before: Dexter stood in line behind his friend Harris at the checkout line at the neighborhood convenience store. Dexter was flat broke but his friend Harris had plenty of money. Dexter had repeatedly asked for a small loan so he could buy some essentials but Harris always turned him down. They were friends but Harris had a controlling nature. He didn’t like that Dexter smoked so he had never liked the idea of lending him money just so he could buy some.
When they got to the end of the line, Dexter pulled a few items from the checkout margins including some cigarettes, a lighter, and a few snacks and lumped them in with what Harris had picked up. The trick was to keep Harris occupied long enough so that he wouldn’t see what the lady was putting in the bag. When they got to the car, Dexter would dig out his prizes and Harris would be none the wiser. He had no clue about what the cost of what he bought should be.
