"I'm usually here from opening to closing"

[struggle4progress]

It's Friday night and I'm grabbing some dollar items

The clerk is a young black woman I may never have seen before. I call her ma'am, and my reward is a radiant smile

I small-talk while she rings me out

Have you voted yet?

"No," she tells me. "I haven't had time yet. I'm usually here from opening to closing. But I am volunteering at night"

Then, without being asked, she says, a bit shyly, that she's a Democrat

"I've been making phone calls," she adds. "I'm going to try to go vote on my lunch break next week"

I say I've been knocking doors and note there was no line when I early voted

A few nights later, I'm back for some detergent

She's stocking shelves but looks up and flashes her radiant smile again