Cyril takes the $60 from Feral, hops out of the van, and makes for the store. The entrance has double glass doors that swing outwards, and then automatic sliding doors just to the Cyril's right. The walls are glass, allowing customers their first glimpse of the wonders within. Before he even enters the sliding doors, Cyril notes the customer service desk through the glass wall. Two clerks man the desk, and a line of five customers waits impatiently for service. A fat woman with a large box in both arms stands in line at the customer service desk. Even through the glass, Cyril hears the fat woman yell at the clerk.
"Hurry it up! You got people here waiting for ten minutes!" Despite the cold winter weather, the fat lady doesn't have on a winter coat, but her hooded sweatshirt proclaims, "Christ is the reason for the season!"
Just inside the sliding doors stands what looks like season clearance. Cyril spies a large number of Thanksgiving decorations, a stuffed turkey discounted from $59.99 to $10, and two rubber Halloween Frankenstein masks designed to fit over one's head. The masks are on sale for $5 each.
As best Cyril can tell, the shelves bearing merchandise are in the middle of the store. These shelves are roughly ten feet high, with additional boxes of unmerchandised goods stacked on top of the shelves. The shelves hold
toys, games, action figures, coloring books, art supplies, dolls, dollhouses, electric trains, plastic models, toy vehicles, and all sorts of things that thrill children of all ages.
As Cyril nears the retail shelves, first T-dawg then J.R. enter through the sliding doors and round the customer service desk. The store has a bank of five check-out counters, but only three of the five are staffed. A long line of customers waits at each of the three open counters.
The store is packed with customers. Cyril spots an overhead placard on one of the aisles that reads "Digital Toys, Aisle 5."
Out in the parking lot, Feral gets out and heads around the back of the store, leaving Marks and Otter inside the van. A bottle-fly metallic green Cadillac Seville sits parked in the loading area beside a large dumpster filled with broken-down cardboard boxes on the northwest corner of the store. A semi tractor-trailor has been backed into one of the store's loading docks, but no workers are anywhere in sight. No one seems to be sitting in the green Caddy, and the car seems out of place behind the store.
