SATURDAY IN THE QUALITY SAVE IN CHORLTON

Chris Killen

Steve goes into the Quality Save in Chorlton to look for cheap kitchen roll. It is Saturday. The Quality Save is busy. Steve is in the Quality Save. The Quality Save is busy. The Quality Save has ‘sexy’ music playing over the loudspeakers. Steve looks around the Quality Save from the doorway. It is Saturday. It is raining. It is busy.

Steve.

There is rain on Steve. There is rain on the floor of the doorway to the Quality Save, next to Steve. There is something small and grey, trodden into the floor of the Quality Save. There are people in the Quality Save. Steve sees, from the doorway: a middle-aged woman moving along near the bottles of cheap shampoo, a man of indeterminate age moving towards the doorway, a young woman pushing a pushchair towards the other aisles of the Quality Save, an old woman disappearing around a corner, further into the Quality Save. There are other people too: young children and a woman with a red face and babies and cashiers and two old men, separately, and other people.

The Quality Save is like a strange boat.

Steve further walks into the Quality Save. There is ‘sexy’ music playing. Steve listens to the ‘sexy’ music as he walks along past the bottles of cheap shampoo, and turns the corner and sees more people – sees a girl run around with a plastic fairy wand still attached to a cardboard packet, and a man and woman examining a cheap miniature barbeque set very closely.

Quality Save.

Steve looks at the ceiling to see where the ‘kitchen’ aisle is.

Steve sees the sign for the ‘stationary’ aisle.

Steve goes and looks at the ‘stationary’ aisle.

The ‘sexy’ music is playing. Steve walks along the ‘stationary’ aisle, not in time to the ‘sexy’ music. There is an old lady in the ‘stationary’ aisle. The old lady is looking at the pens. Steve is looking at the notebooks, which are next to the pens. Steve doesn’t need a new notebook, or a new pen, or anything else in the ‘stationary’ aisle. The ‘sexy’ music is playing. Steve stands next to the old lady as the ‘sexy’ music plays.

The old lady is like a thing made of paper, left out for a long time on a windowsill.

Steve thinks about the old lady, standing there in the ‘stationary’ aisle, listening to the ‘sexy’ music.

Steve thinks about an argument.

Steve tries to ‘win’ the argument in his head, retrospectively.

Steve doesn’t ‘win’ the argument.

The old lady is picking up a pen and putting it back again. Steve is looking at the notebooks. The old lady is near him. Steve doesn’t touch any of the notebooks in the ‘stationary’ aisle. The old lady is picking up another pen and looking at it. There is a penis in Steve’s trousers. The penis is flaccid.

The ‘sexy’ music is playing.

The old lady is holding the pen very close to her eyes. The ‘sexy’ music is playing as Steve and the old lady examine the things in the ‘stationary’ aisle. The old lady is putting the pen back on one of the shelves in the ‘stationary’ aisle. The old lady is moving down the ‘stationary’ aisle, not in time to the ‘sexy’ music, away from Steve, towards the checkout, and not buying anything.