Brief Synopsis: Austin’s perspective changes while helping a pharmacy customer find her lost lizard named John Galt.
Three soft tones sounded out over the store followed by Sheryl’s garbled voice announcing the lucky winner of a filled prescription. Austin clutched a bottle of shampoo from the box on his cart, studied it briefly, and placed it next to its brethren on the shelf. In five years, he’d stocked this shelf hundreds of times, long ago memorizing location, number of bottles that fit, and that the folks of Lincoln needed twenty-three choices to clean their hair. The secret Austin had discovered was that people picked either the cheapest or the most expensive products, leaving the rest to rot on the shelf for him to eventually clear.
His mind drifted to Amanda, two aisles over perusing magazines like Glamour and Vanity Fair while waiting for her name to be called. He’d sneak over after she left, guessing which articles she glanced at and thinking about what prescription she picked up every few weeks
“I’ve lost John Galt.”
Austin jumped, startled by the voice. Before him was a girl of maybe twenty wearing a sundress patterned with orange flowers and hummingbirds, and her lips were painted a bright red without seeming to be tacky despite her pale skin.
“Who is John Galt?”
“Ha, that’s the question, isn’t it?” she twisted a finger into the curls of her blonde hair that flowed down to her pointed, freckled shoulder blades.
“I’m sorry, did you lose someone?”
“Not a someone, a lizard.”
“Here? You lost a lizard here?”
“Well, he’s a chameleon, really, and yes. Like, we were looking over some lady products, and he was sitting on my shoulder, like always, and then he wasn’t there. Oops.”
The scenario spiraled from there, as Austin set out with her in tow to find John Galt before someone else discovered it and sent the store into a panic.
“Here, lizard.” Austin said. “Here, lizard.”
“He’s not a cat, and he answers to John Galt, anyways.”
“Sorry, I’ve never tracked a chameleon before. How’d you come up with a name like that?”
“Oh, I didn’t. My grandfather named him before giving him to me. He teaches literature at the community college, and every semester he gets a new pet and has his class vote on the name based off one of the characters they’ve met during the semester. He also has a potbelly pig named Mr. Darcy and a kitten named Kurtz.”
Austin sped past the aisle where Amanda was standing in a denim jacket and jean shorts. He had a math class with Amanda at the same college where this girl’s grandfather taught, but he doubted Amanda knew he was alive.
“Why didn’t we check that aisle?”
“He’s not down there.”
The girl paused, studying the shelves and the girl of nearly the same age gazing at magazines.
“Do you know her or something, Austin?”
“Or something, and how do you know my name?”
She touched the tag on his chest and smiled.
“Some things you can just tell by looking. Have you asked her out?”
“No.” He stalked off, looking for the damn thing that brought this flighty girl into his life.
The girl followed, floating around the store like a balloon at the mercy of the breezes, always a few feet away from him.
“Where would you take her on a date?”
“Nowhere. I’ll never ask.” Austin wasn’t about to tell her that he fantasized about being locked in the store with Amanda. He’d layout a table cloth from the housewares aisle and arrange some candles from Aisle 4. Maybe he’d dig out some batteries and get lucky enough to tune in something romantic on one of the clock radios. Maybe a bottle of wine. Some cheese. All they sold in that department was individual slices wrapped in plastic or cheese whiz, but they’d make due, and in his mind, she’d find it all charming.
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all,” the girl said.
“Look, all I am trying to do is find your lizard so I can get back to work.”
A scream ended their conversation. It was a short burst, which was better than the frantic yelping he had been worried about, and he hoped most of the customers didn’t hear it. Grabbing the girl’s hand, he followed the direction of the scream. His luck being what it was, he found the lizard staring down his crush from the shiny tile floor, which now also had periodicals scattered all around.
“That thing just crawled up on my shoulder,” Amanda shouted, backed up against the shelves opposite of the magazine rack.
“John Galt,” the girl exclaimed, rushing over and snatching the chameleon off the floor. The creature might have been stunned from the fall from Amanda’s shoulder because it made no attempt to flee, and the girl lifted it to her face. “If you saw Atlas, what would you tell him?” She whispered.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” Austin stuttered out to Amanda. “She lost her lizard, and…”
“And I’ll never shop here again. Lord, what else is crawling around here?”
The girl placed John Galt on her shoulder, turning back in their direction.
“Oh, I can’t thank you enough for helping me,” she closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around her neck. “My hero.” Then she planted a kiss on his lips, pressing her bright red lips firmly against his. He was sure his face matched that color before she withdrew. Amanda’s jaw dropped open. “Thank you, Austin.”
The girl twirled away, then started to meander toward the exit.
“Wait!”
The girl paused, tilting her ear back to him.
“What’s your name?”
“Dagny.” She started walking again. He watched another moment before another question came to him.
“Who is John Galt?”
Dagny made a graceful pirouette and shrugged the shoulder with the lizard on it toward him.
“Why don’t I tell you about him on Saturday night?”
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