The man in the torn, ragged clothes walked into the Kmart. He idled his way over to the arts and crafts section, the strips of fabric from his pants dragging against the polished floor. The bulk of his large brown coat got in the way as he grabbed the items he needed, and he clumsily held them as he walked up to the cashier.
The cashier was a young man, about eighteen, whose face was plagued with acne. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the raggedly-dressed man as the items were placed on the conveyor belt. The man stared back, said nothing. The boy checked the items out – a large cardboard sheet, a box of sharpies, and a small string – stuffed them into a bag, and waited for the man to pay. He checked in the pockets of his large coat and, after about a minute of fumbling, produced a group of stained coins. He dropped them onto the counter; the boy picked them up and slowly counted to two dollars and eighty-nine cents. “Your change is one cent, sir,” the boy held his palm out with the penny.
The man let out one deep gruff of a laugh, his rotten teeth barely visible from behind the bushy beard that covered his face, said, “Keep the change, boy.” The young man’s pale mouth curved into a frown as the older man walked away, towards the exit.
He paused at the automatic sliding doors and sat on the bench to the side of them. He opened the box of sharpies, chose a blue one, and started writing on the cardboard. He did this slowly, making sure every letter was perfectly drawn. The first word: “THE.” The man paused, looked around for a second, rolled up his sleeves, and continued. The next words: “END IS.” He stopped again, a girl in a blue tank top entered the store and he watched her walk past until she was out of sight among the rows and rows of merchandise. Then he returned to his work. He looked back down at the cardboard sheet and traced the last word: “NIGH.”
The man poked a couple of holes into the top of the sheet and tied the string to it. Placing the sign around his neck, he walked outside and across the street to join a group of other hobos who welcomed him with open arms, all of them holding signs that said, “THE END IS NIGH.”
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Ah damn, I need a good title. Help, anyone?
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