Shalina wasn’t entirely sure the fox behind the counter was awake or not. He was sitting in a chair with his eyes closed, rocking back and forth and wearing paper drinking cups on his ears. She didn’t have time to investigate closer though, as she grabbed armfuls of snacks, drinks and other essentials before she headed over to the register to pay, dumping the pile of stuff hard enough to startle the fox into consciousness, or at least semi consciousness.
He started talking about something, but just then a message on the radio beside him caught Shalina’s attention.
“...a red Honda Civic hatchback last seen heading southeast toward the county border. The driver is a female weasel a bit over four foot tall. She is dressed in a red blouse and a beige jacket and a blue shawl or head covering…”
Shalina self consciously adjusted her jacket and glanced at the fox, but he was too caught up with whatever was going on in his head to notice. He probably didn’t hear anything through the paper cups anyway. She quickly threw some money on the counter and grabbed the paper bag with stuff and hurried out.
Just as she reached the door she realized she hadn’t even paid half the sum and turned to look back but the fox was back to rocking back and forth. He hadn’t even taken the money off the counter.
She threw the bag in the passenger seat and got behind the wheel. At some point she needed to get a new jacket...