999 666

     For the second time this morning, the bakery freighter restarts the phone given him by Walmart for his new job.  The phone shows 999 messages on the Me@Walmart app.  He puts the phone down on the counter and walks over to the bakery folk.

     “You won’t believe it.  My phone’s telling me I have 999 messages.”

     They all chime, “Oh, we do believe it.”  

     One says, “Walmart gave you a crap phone.”

     “But it’s the store number.  My phone is blessing me with the store number.  999,” he says.

     “It’s just a malfunction.”

     A fellow worker pushes a cart stacked with cardboard out the too-narrow door, maneuvering it to get it through.  A piece of cardboard hits the phone and spins it.  When the bakery freighter picks it up, the phone is upside down.  999 now reads 666.  The number of the Beast.  The bakery freighter’s eyes widen, and he stares in shock.  He restarts his phone a third time.  The phone shows no messages.

     He starts his workday, opening cases, placing pastries on shelves, then stops and looks around.  The Spark, Walmart’s logo, has marks that look like the top part of exclamation points radiating from an empty central point.  The marks in the logo number six.  Sparks appear everywhere in Walmart.

     The bakery freighter then realizes: a Spark is on his name tag, a Spark is on his vest, a Spark is on his hat.  Walmart has placed three Sparks, forming 666, on him.  

     “So, this is me at Walmart,” he says.  “A beast.”