SNOW GLOBE by Jeanne Skartsiaris

crunchy bite but when she noticed the security officer still eyeing her, she decided to eat outside.
    She threw her shoulders back and walked right past him. He didn’t say anything but followed a few paces behind. He left her after she exited the store.
    By now the scent of the bread was making Aja’s tummy grumble. She went to sit on a bench, but it was already occupied by a homeless man. More ragged and dirty than Aja.
    “Got any spare change?” the man asked.
    Aja reached in her pocket. Thirteen cents. “It’s all I have.”
    “You keep it.” The man said, eyeing Aja’s sandwich.
    Aja hesitated. No, not the sandwich. But the man was so thin. Who knew when his last meal was? She looked longingly at the turkey and cheese falling from the bread and handed the man the sandwich.
    “Nah, really?” he asked.
    “Yeah, whatever, go ahead.” Aja then wished she’d at least torn it in half.
    The man took the sandwich. “Thanks,” he said as he hurriedly walked away, biting a hunk of bread as he left.
    “Well, wasn’t that a nice gesture. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
    Aja recoiled at the voice. Dumpster Dempsey.
    “Those homeless people are vermin though. You shouldn’t feed them or give them money. You’ll just encourage them.” Dempsey pulled her large purse over her shoulder protectively. “You look like you’ve been rolling in the mud too.”
    Aja was pissed. She’d given up her perfect sandwich, was on the run again, and seeing the Dumpster just added fuel to the fire. “That was my dad,” Aja shot back. “Since he had to work late, I brought him his dinner.”
    Dempsey’s eyes widened.
    “Mom sends her love,” Aja yelled at the lingering dust cloud the man had left.
    “Aja, you’re not homeless. Your mom is the psychic. You live where that hand waves from the front yard,” Dempsey said, but seemed just a tad unsure now.
    Aja was tempted to ask to use the woman’s phone, but she didn’t want a barrage of questions or for her to eavesdrop and realize Aja was on the lam again. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” She turned and stormed off.
    Aja hung around the parking lot, hoping to see someone else she knew. No luck. The only familiar face was the security guard, who by now had spotted Aja trolling around the lot.
    She was sick of running. Sick of everything. She hadn’t done anything wrong, yet felt guilty. It was dark now so Aja decided to walk home. As she approached her driveway, she saw two police cars parked. The officer she recognized as Doug sprang from a car yelling, “There she is.” He crouched behind his car door as if Aja had a gun pointed at him.
    She held her arms up mockingly. “Don’t’ shoot, I’m unarmed.” Then she threw in, “And innocent.”
    The other police car door opened and Freddy Kruger stepped out, slowly, deliberately. That scared Aja more than if he’d come screaming at her guns blazing.
    “Get him away from me.” Aja screamed and started to back away.
    The front door to her house opened and her mom ran out with the female officer from the other night, Officer Smith.
    “Aja, are you all right?” her mom asked. “What is going on?”
    “I was falsely accused of stealing, and this jerk was going to take me to God knows where.” She pointed at Freddy.
    “You ran, makes you guilty to me,” Doug said, leaning against his car door.
    “I ran, toad breath, because this guy scares the bejeezes out of me.” She pointed at Freddy.
    “Aja, don’t talk like that,” her mom admonished.
    “What? Bejeezes?”
    “Let’s not make this worse,” her mom whispered.
    Officer Smith walked to her. “Aja, you need to come to the station. You’ve been accused of a crime.”
    “I didn’t do it.”
    “Why did you run?”
    “Because the police officer you sent was the guy stalking me. No way am I getting into a car with him.”
    “Did you file a report?” Officer Smith asked.
    “Not yet, we were going to do that soon,” her mom said.