Settlement

Near the entrance a legless convict circled the bargain bins in a wheelchair, his mother following behind, a woman, skeletal, sipping a synthetic orange soft drink. The convict hovered over a crate of bargain mayonnaise. He hefted a tub onto his chair, calling out for an employee to acknowledge him. He lifted the tub over his head and called out, a pair of eyes tattooed on the back of his neck, the eyes of Anubis, jackal of the dead. The convict called out and no one came. He began to swear and cradled the condiment in his scrawny arms. His mother sipped her soda, her veins blue, her skin paper. 

A black man wearing a gold chain and an apron approached them. 

How am I supposed to save five dollars and forty cents on mayonnaise? said the convict. 

The black man looked at the convict. A torso holding a jar of fat. 

It say on the sign there. You save five dollars. 

Mayonnaise don’t cost no eleven dollars. It cost five dollars forty. So how do I save five dollars forty if I spend it?

But the deal, said the black man. It’s the deal. You buy one jar you get one free. So you save the whole price of the second mayonnaise.

The convict looked agitated. He was sweating.

Goddamn it I don’t want two jars of mayonnaise. I want one jar of mayonnaise. 

But we give you the second one for free.

I don’t want it. 

But we will give it to you.

No.

Just give it to you. 

The convict shook his head.

I just want one jar of mayonnaise. Just one. How much for just one jar?

The black man looked ready to weep. His voice was quiet. 

Sir I cannot sell you one. I have to give you two. If you want one I give you two.

I don’t need two goddamn mayonnaises. 

I give it to you sir. I just give it to you.

The convict shook his head, the eyes of the jackal, guardian of tombs. 

You’re not listening to me. You’re not hearing me.

Behind him his mother. The crone immortal with the can at her lips, rocking over the wheelchair, presiding. Nodding, nodding, nodding.

That’s right Junior. You tell him Junior. Anything you want baby. Anything you want it’s yours.