The Cashier

Marie, with long straight blond hair and blue eyes looks tired with wrinkles that are ingrained in her skin like dried out river beds in a desert. But her light, her intensity, changes when she talks. “Do you know I still live in the same house in New Rochelle that I was born in. I have had neighbors come and go but I am still there. The high school looks the same but it definitely has changed.” She tells me more about her community and then switches her focus and a warmth comes over her. “I remember the place that made me feel most comfort, was the church across the street. I still remember at age thirteen going to the church alone and feeling such a sense of peace, away from all of the outside noise. There was such a sense of stillness there. Now He, (she gestures to the sky) is always with me.” Through our conversation, Marie makes several gestures with her hands to show a kind of path to the Lord being up and down and the physical life being a horizontal plane. There is a real...

Roslyn hesitates, almost as if waiting for me before coming into the line. It is 11:20 Sunday night. I come around my register to greet her. “It is such a blessing to be living where we are with such freedoms.” I can sense Roslyn’s presence through her smile and the warmth behind her large designer glasses. She goes on to tell me about her pivot from a Wall Street executive to working in human services. “The fulfillment wasn’t there. I looked at the people around me, where the drive was money, and knew there was a hole in my heart telling me this greed and shallowness would never fulfill me.” Roslyn tells me of her strong faith in God especially with such a large change in her life.  Then I tell her my intention of connecting with people through cashiering without any desired outcome.  My genuine interest has, I believed, revealed a kindness in people that becomes a gratefulness in itself.  “I think this is preparing you for a Calling, these are not random events or...