“$20.12,” he said, and it sounded normal.
It sounded like he was just this normal guy at a normal gas station totaling up a normal amount with gas and cigarettes and a diet Pepsi. His lips were thick and dark, outlined in black in that way dark skin is, paling in the center. His lashes were long and his eyes were aggressively brown, like they had something to prove. Lizard-y. Reptilian. He almost seemed to glow under the yellow light. Behind him there were condoms, cigarettes, lotto tickets, all the accouterments of a regular gas station and a regular guy, just off the boat, putting himself through school or sending money back to his parents.
