THE MOMENT
"Must be new owners...," Joe paused as he approached the door. The familiar red bullseye logo had been replaced by red scissors. The entrance was blocked off by a heavy black curtain; but, a white sign with red text was hung on it.
[Come in! We're Open!]
[Pardon our dust while we remodel.]
Joe had his doubts until he saw an older man walk out from behind the curtain pushing a cart full of items. He noticed Joe standing by the door and nodded at him with a grin.
"It's like a whole different store now," he said as he walked by. He pointed at the items in his cart. If Joe were the kind of person to judge by appearances, he'd have wondered how the old man with ratty, mismatched clothes afforded the items. A pile of brand-new tablets and laptop computers sat in his cart. "They have amazing deals!" he added.
"Thanks," Joe nodded at the old man and continued forward. He was there for supplies for his niece; but, if there was a sale on school supplies he could use a new laptop for himself. He went past the curtain and walked into complete darkness for a moment. He reached forward and felt another curtain on his fingertips; then, he continued through it.
He found a gleaming white store on the other side. The ceiling looked higher than he remembered and it was lined with white fluorescent lights.
"Welcome to Sharp Mart!" a voice startled Joe as he scanned the store in awe. He whirled around to find a large vertical display. A golden, faceless mannequin in a red suit stood on an empty white background. He gave a curt half-bow at the exact moment Joe noticed him.
"It seems this is your first time here, would you like to register as a club member?"
"Are you talking to me?" Joe approached the display full of curiosity.
"Have you been here before?" the mannequin asked. Joe chuckled, he was sure he imagined it; but, he heard a distinct snarkiness in the character's voice.
"No, I haven't," Joe said. The mannequin nodded.
"I don't see anyone else that just walked in, so there's a pretty good chance I'm talking to you," he said. Joe looked around the area again. It was a red carpeted section with the black curtain on one side of him and the pristine white store on the other three sides; but, the didn't see any cameras.
"How do you see me?" he asked.
"Look, pal, I'm trying to work here. I'm not really in the mood to be chatted up. Do you want to register with the club or not? It's a simple question." Joe chose to chuckle instead of being offended. Either it was a bored human on the other side of the screen, or it was an A.I. pretending. Either way, none of those scenarios was worth getting worked up over.
"Alright, so, what are the club benefits?" he asked.
"A very generous line of credit with extremely lenient repayment options," the mannequin replied.
"How generous...?" Joe was obligated to ask after seeing the stranger walk out with a dozen laptops and tablets. The character snapped his fingers on the screen and a red shopping cart appeared in the white void next to him.
"You can leave the store with anything you can fit in this," he replied. "Pay it back....," he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "...whenever."
"Are you serious?" Joe asked.
"I don't know?" the suited mannequin shrugged. "Am I?"
"Excuse me," a feminine voice spoke up and Joe turned to see a young woman with a loaded cart waiting to get past him. More tablets, laptops, and a couple of linens.
"Oh! Sorry!" Joe apologized and stepped out of the way.
"Sorry, this is a weird question...," Joe spoke up as she walked past.
"Did you pay for all that?" Her eyes went wide and she immediately turned to the display.
"Helios! You said I didn't have to pay!" she said. The mannequin chuckled on screen and nodded his head.
"Ignore him, he's new," Helios replied.
"Ohhh, okay," she nodded and seemed to relax. She turned back to Joe and shook her head.
"Club members can fill up the cart once per day," she said. Then, she waved and continued through the black curtain.
"ONCE PER DAY!?" Joe asked. "YES! I want to be a member!"
"That's great, I just need to get some answers from you," Helios clicked a pen in his hand and he was suddenly holding a clipboard. He looked at Joe, then shook his head.
"Ooops, sorry. It turns out you're not eligible to be a club member. You're still welcome to shop at Sharp Mart, but you don't have access to our credit line."
"WHAT!?" Absolutely nothing changed in the 10 seconds it took for Helios to withdraw the invitation. He hadn't even asked a question. "WHY NOT?"
"There are some people that have what's known as a "Unique Soul' inside them; those are the ones that are eligible to become members."
"And how do you know I'm not one?" Joe asked.
"What's your favorite number?" Helios asked.
"What?" Joe shook his head. "Don't change the subject, how do you know I'm not a Unique Soul?" Helios chuckled.
"Unique Souls are special. They've lived through millions of lifetimes, learning a new lesson in each one. They have amazing, overpowered abilities and the level head to keep them in check. You have none of that; you're just a regular person buying things the regular way."