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Gains and Losses.

Carefully the couple had chosen the wine
For their party; with cost most in mind.
The supermarket, with boxes dumped on the floor,
Didn’t bother them they just wanted more
For their money, not caring for a show.
Two cases on the trolley. “That’s it let’s go!”

New girl on the checkout, tense, but bright
On the till alone, she had to get it right.
Putting through their shopping ‘til lastly the wine.
She checked two cases then looked up the price,
Seven pounds a bottle; times two. That’s fine,
First customer coped with and she as cool as ice.

He paid for the shopping using platinum credit
She smiled, he signed, and homeward they headed.
They checked the receipt, their suspicions were right
The wine cost was wrong, it was seventy quid light.
She said, their mistake, don’t worry at all
The prices they buy at; their profits won’t fall.

Sarah was feeling a sense of achievement
Her till checked out, adding up like it should.
At the end of the shift her joy was apparent,
Could she cope? She’d proved that she could.
Random audits however showed a scam of some sort
Bottles had been charged for when cases were bought.

Confronted next morning Sarah didn’t flinch.
“We always prosecute if money’s been pinched.”
“I’ve stolen nothing”, she said, her story unheard
“That’s what they all say”, the auditor observed.
“Pay it back, leave today and we’ll say no more
We can’t lose fifty pounds I can tell you for sure.”

She’d made a mistake and her world had turned awry.
“To my office”, said the manager, “I can help you, don’t cry”.
In tears she followed, once in he locked the door.
Later, emerging she looked different than before.
Happier now, he had been gentle it’s true,
That’s what a heart to heart with dad can do.

At the dinner party, the wine flowed free,
The guests, all drinking obliviously,
Would never know as they joked with their host
What something for nothing, for someone, could cost.
Could not know of broken faith in a girl of eighteen.
Or think of gains and losses, and what might have been

© John Debenham 2008