All She Needed

The night was cold. The only way to notice the light drizzle was to let it fall on your skin or by looking up at the street lights illuminating the airy rain drops falling around them. Julia was walking fast to stay warm. The thought of resting her weary feet, lying down in her bed pushed her faster through the sad weather. It had been a long day at work. A full day on her feet. To be honest, it had been a full week on her feet and she was exhausted. She had been dreaming of the relaxation she would allow herself to have over the weekend. She could see it all as she walked home. She was going to sleep in, catch up on her favourite TV shows, take her upstairs neighbor's dog for a long walk in the forest, have coffee with a friend and maybe finally finish that painting she'd been working on for 4 months now. But most of all she loved her relaxed mornings and she couldn't wait to wake up well rested and just relax. A new song started playing in her ear phones and she knew she would be home before the end of it. She started planning her coming morning. She would wake up because her body told her to and not because of some terrible alarm clock. She would put on her most comfy pyjamas, put up her hair. Maybe even start the day with a hot shower. She would put the kettle on. Take out the french press: the main attraction of her weekend mornings. She'd listen to some smooth jazz and dance around the hallway to it until the kettle started making its upset noises. She'd pour the water in the french press and see it mix with her grounded creamy coffee beans and wait impatiently until she could press the top. She'd go to her bed and have the first coffee of the day. Oh yeah, and she'd probably have to get up and go back to the fridge to get the milk, cause she always forgot the mi-. 'Goddammit', she thought to herself. 'I ran out. Why didn't I think of this during my break? Seriously? I was SO excited not having to leave the house.' Suddenly a neon sign blinked in the corner of her eye. It was the supermarket sign. The big red letters that read "SaveMore" twinkled and demanded her attention. Julia knew they were closed by now. She'd had to go there in the morning and get the damn milk. Which meant having to put on clothes and getting out in public. Two things she hated on her Saturdays. She was almost at home when the sign flashed again. She stopped and looked at the time. Well... they only closed half an hour ago. Maybe there was still staff there and maybe she could come up with some crazy excuse for why she absolutely needed some milk right here and now? Julia shook her head. She tried to tell herself she was being silly. Her aching feet told her to try. They didn't want to wear shoes the next few days if they could avoid it. She stood for a bit outside. 1 minute from her front door in the drizzle which laid on her thick coat like a spider's web. She bit her lip and looked towards the supermarket and remembered what she always told herself: 'If you never ask, the answer will always be no.' She turned around on her heel and walked determinedly towards the supermarket. As she approached she saw that all the lights had been shut off. She stuck her face on the glass doors to see if anyone would be closing up shop in the dark but there was no sign of anybody. The cold was getting to her for not walking anymore. She shrug her shoulders and decided to just go home and admit defeat. But just as she was walking back she saw an open window. It was placed only a bit higher than her waist. It was on the far left corner of the building and, from a quick look, there were no security cameras around. Maybe an employee had forgot to close the bathroom window. But wouldn't the alarm go off if they forgot such a thing? And wouldn't it go off if she tried to climb in the window? Why was she even considering breaking in for some milk? If she did break in she would of course leave money for what she had 'stolen' which wouldn't really be stealing then and- Julia shook her head and started walking again on her aching feet. But instead of walking straight she turned right and headed straight for the window. Her feet were in control now and they were NOT leaving the flat tomorrow because of something so silly as closing times. She suddenly found herself in front of the window with a heavily beating heart pulling her hoodie over her head. She took a deep breath and held it. As she carefully slid her body under the window and the first leg over the window pane she told herself that she could always just tell the police she thought she'd seen a fire or something and went to check it out. That would be a totally good excuse, she tried to calm herself once she found herself standing in the staff room. She still hadn't taken a breath yet and her heart skipping a beat gently reminded her of that. 'I'm insane' she thought as she stood still as a rock and listened for an alarm. What she didn't know, and to Julia's great luck, was that the young employee Kenneth had finally been given the responsibility of closing up that night as a part of a leader ship technique or belief the manager Justin truly believed in. A belief that Kenneth had time and time again challenged Justin in. The belief was that if you place responsibility on your employees, they will live up to the task because they feel valued and trusted. And by forgetting to turn on the alarm and close the window Kenneth had just failed tonight. Hard. But Julias racing heart knew nothing of this. She listened. The alarm hadn't gone off, so she took a careful step. And another one. And another one. She moved forward slowly but surely, letting her eyes adjust to the dark room. She reached the door and opened it and recognized her local supermarket from a completely new angle. She turned left down the dairy aisle, got the the fridge with milk, grabbed the one with the expiry date furthest in the future and took out her wallet. She laid down a bit more than the actual price of the milk because she did feel bad about breaking in after all. She escaped the same way she got in and ran like a hooded villain in the night across the parking lot and towards her home. One carton of milk richer.

The next morning Julia wakes up. She stretches and yawns. Gets out of bed. With sleep in her eyes she takes a hot shower. Puts on her comfiest pyjamas. She says hello to her french press and fills him with coffee. Goes to her bed, sits down and opens her computer to watch the news. Dammit, she's forgotten the mi-,

but just as she realizes what she had done the night before to get the milk which is now in her fridge, the reporter on the news stands in front of her local supermarket and says: 'I agree, John. It's an extremely peculiar situation. I am here in front of the local supermarket "SaveMore" in Littleton with the manager of the shop Justin Goldman. Justin, can you tell us what happened last night?'

'Well, George. A hooded woman snuck through our staff room window, went to the dairy asile, got a carton of milk and put down way too much money for milk on the floor and then she disappeared out the window through which she entered.'

'And why was that window open, Justin, if I might ask?'

'That's Kenneth's fault and I don't want to discuss it.' Justin crosses his arms and looks down.

'That's, ehm.. I'm sure there's a reason for that. So are you going to try to find out who this woman is?'

'No. I mean, looking at the footage she seems like she's just desperate for a carton of milk. To be honest, George, I don't care if the woman is a drug addict or what could make a person do this, but we did, or Kenneth did... forget to lock the window AND she was decent enough to pay for the milk anyway. To be frank, I'm just a little confused about the whole thing and I probably have to fire Kenneth later today and it's just not my style, George.' Justin tears up and wipes it angrily away with his sleeve and looks away. George pats him on the back and opens his mouth to ask another question but Justin interrupts him: 'You know, I really believed in Kenneth and now this. Maybe it's all just a sign we need to stay open 24/7 so Kenneth never have to do a closing shift again.' George starts to get a bit uneasy and turns to the camera: 'And I think that's all from me, John, on the mysterious hooded woman milk case. Reporting live here from "SaveMore" in Littleton.' Julia closes her computer in disbelief, she goes to the kitchen with her coffee cup in her hand, opens the fridge, pours some of the milk in and looks out the window on the parking lot in front of the supermarket where Justin is shaking and George is patting his back and camera men are packing their "News 24" van. She takes a sip of coffee with the milk and it tastes like all she needed.