The Lost Boys of Nevermarket

***Disclaimer: I got this idea from Pinterest, an exercise where you write a 20 word sentence, then a 19 word sentence, and so on, ending the story with one word.***

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Phil aimlessly wanders the aisles of the supermarket, blindly pushing his cart as he stares at his phone, brow creased. 

Mega or deluxe?, his unread text to his wife reads as he stops in front of the deli counter. 

“What’ll ya have?” a scruffy man grumbles behind the glass, startling Phil from his preoccupied state of oblivion. 

He looks up, seeing that he’s surrounded by other lost men with parked carts and bowed heads. 

“Sorry, I . . .” Phil mutters, turning toward the counter, “I’m waiting to hear back from my wife.”

“Welcome to the staging area,” the scruffy man mumbles, gesturing to the other wandering souls. 

One by one, the bowed heads raise and turn to Phil, eyes tired, hopeless. 

“What are you in for?” a man in a business suit asks him. 

He gestures to his phone and says, “Ground pepper or bell peppers.”

Phil looks out at the weary bunch before him, finally understanding. 

“You’re stuck here too?” he asks, gesturing to his phone. 

“Unfortunately . . .” a bald man says, “been here four hours.”

“Last time I got deluxe instead of mega.”

“I had to try to return kumquats.”

“Can’t go home until she replies.”

A phone rings; someone cheers.

“Hey honey . . . okay, great!”

“I’m finally saved!”

Phil sighs. 

“Congratulations.”

THE END