Sale Cereal

She bit her bottom lip first, then lifted her gaze to my unassuming face. When she started looking at me softly, like I was some sort of oft-beaten puppy, I knew what was coming.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, “but your card’s been declined.” I offered a solution.

“Huh. Want to try it again?” Unsurprisingly, nothing changed, save her face, which only contorted more.

“Weird,” I said. The steam tauntingly danced on my cheeks. “Let me go check with my bank and figure it out.” I walked to a table, leaving the coffee, and pulled out my computer. After entering my username and password, my statement appeared on the screen.

“Available Balance: -$10.41,” it read.