Paige's chin slipped off the edge of her palm causing her forehead to smack against the wooden counter and jolt her awake with a yelp of pain. Groaning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she heard the jingle of someone entering the pet store. The soft pitter-patter of feet told her it was either a small animal or a child. [i]Same thing right?[/i] Before she could feel guilty for the thought, an ear-splitting shrill scream erupted out of nowhere. The store Paige worked in was tiny to say the least. The aisles that separated the few rows of cages and displays were so cramped that two people could only fit through if they shimmied by each other. The types of animals in the store were limited to lizards, rabbits, mice, birds, and the occasional snake, with pet supplies being sold up front. 
Paige rounded the corner of the counter and ran towards the last aisle on the left, easily reaching the source of the scream before it had finished. She found a little girl with horror stricken eyes and a tear streaked face standing in front of the biggest display in the store. The little girl had found their only snake, a large sand boa, and it was feeding time. As the orange and black snake lurched forward and swallowed another part of the mouse, Paige grabbed a thin blanket laying on the floor and threw it over the display. 
She turned around and found a man gently picking up the girl. As the child wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shirt, the father glared at Paige in disgust, as though she had been the one to swallow a mouse whole.

"You can't just let children see things like that!"
"I'm sorry, but it's a [i]pet[/i] store! What did you expect to be in here?"
The man shook his head and carried his daughter out.

Once the door had closed, Paige let out a sigh and glanced back over at the display. She pulled the blanket off and knelt down to get a better look at the snake who had finished swallowing its meal. As she placed her hand on the glass, the reptile slithered up to her and for a second it almost seemed to be looking straight into her eyes. The front door jingled again and Paige saw her manager, a skinny man with a ponytail and a baseball cap walk inside.

"What the hell was that all about?" he asked, motioning outside with his thumb.
"Guess they didn't realize there would be animals in the pet store," she said, rolling her eyes and standing back up.
"Hey, I don't pay you to scare away our customers!"
"Pay me? I didn't even get a paycheck last week, Tom!" Paige crossed her arms.
Tom shook his head and retreated behind the counter muttering, "Yeah, yeah, you'll get your money woman. Worse than my wife..." 
Paige looked down at the snake and said more to herself than to Tom, "And besides, [i]I[/i] didn't do anything. It was Sandy's feeding time and the girl saw more of mother nature than she bargained for."
Before slipping into the back room, he added over his shoulder, "You smell that fire? Think it's comin' from down the street or somethin'."