Gas station gothic

The Shell station down Maddox Road and around the corner from our house is the closest gas station to home, so is the most convenient gas station to us and a place at which we find ourselves from time to time. Back two years ago when gas prices were not so outrageous and the place at which we filled the car didn't matter as much, we were there quite often.

At the time, the main clerk behind the counter was a woman near our age who wore too much makeup and had collagen lips. We called her "Big lip Woman" outside her hearing. She was nice and kept the front counter covered with ciggarette smoke any time you came in.

In the back of the store sat four electronic poker games with metal stools, like bar stools, in front of each of the machines. Ordinarily, an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair and an ample stomach sat and smoked and played video poker from first light to suppertime. His name was "Bud." Beside him sat an elderly black woman, known as "Wino Woman" who bought beer and wine throughout the day and battled the poker machines in an effort to win enough money to make the whole process work for the next day.