turbo.

Turbo is faster than regular. It said so in the manual. It was, without a doubt, not a secret.

Janie's new car was a Turbo. And it was faster than a regular car. "My car," she would often be heard to remark to people, "is a Turbo and it is quite fast." Her hair was dark like an oil slick against night sky and she'd often speak to strangers without being prompted. And not always just about her car.

Today Janie walked to the gas station up the street from her apartment. The Turbo was in perfect working condition, but Janie decided that a brisk walk would be in her best interest.

"I walked up here for an iced tea despite the fact that I have a car," she blurted to a portly man beside her at the counter as they each waited for the teenage clerk to end his phone call. She smiled, though the man said nothing and heaved his Sunday paper to the counter. After a few more muffled words the clerk laughed, hung up the outdated handset phone and then quickly blushed and strode over to the pair.

"Just the Sunday Times, sir?"

"And a soft pack of Kent 100s," the man grunted and then looked away. Janie thought that the man looked like an ape that had been carefully shaved to look like a man. Masquerading as a human for news and tobacco? She chuckled to herself almost silently.

"Five dollars even."

The man shoved a crumpled bill to the counter and brushed by Janie as he turned and walked towards the double doors. Janie watched, momentarily ignoring her turn at the register, as the man pulled open the rusted door to his compact car and slumped inside.

"That man brushed against me as he left the store!" she said loudly to the clerk who looked like he really wished he hadn't heard what Janie said. "I believe he did it by design!"

The boy's cheeks reddened again and he shrugged his shoulders dismissively, "Just the iced tea then, ma'am?"

Janie refused to leave without some sort of reaction or sympathy or empathy or anything from the child clerk, "Did you see what happened?"

"Yes, he did brush against you. I saw that, too. What a jerk. Why would anyone do that?" The boy stumbled through his comments as though he'd been reading from a cue card.

"I'll tell you why," Janie said. "He was attempting to derive sexual pleasure from it! He grazed my left breast as he passed and I really think I saw him lick his lower lip as he did it!"

The clerk shifted from sneaker to sneaker uneasily before ringing up Janie's tea, silently placing it in a plastic bag and gesturing to the LCD that read 1.29.

Janie reached slowly to her jeans, forced her right hand into the tight pocket and withdrew two folded dollar bills after digging for a few seconds. She gave them to the clerk who quickly returned to Janie a handful of assorted change to the tune of 71 cents.

"My car has Turbo," she said to the teenage clerk as she turned to walk home. The iced tea was cold and delicious on her throat and she thought, "I'm glad I decided to walk."