The three women in front of me were talking about the big demi-anniversary sale at Walmart and how they’d gotten time off from their cleaning jobs and were going down together.

“Is it that big?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” they said, “50% off all children’s clothes, shoes and school supplies.”

Everything Else=Box of Tampons.

“Got to get there early though.”

Or they’ll stop selling you cheap shit made by slaves and cared for by cannibals who’d fish out their own pancreas if you gave them a hook? It was just another reason I didn’t mind leaving.

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in...