“Foley’s will close in fifteen minutes,” the authoritative male voice boomed over the department store speaker. “Please bring your purchases to the register immediately.”

   Alice Shea was finishing a transaction, punching several keys on the register. Then she hit the Sale button, and the machine calculated the total with its methodical crunching march. “That will be twelve dollars and eighty-one cents, Ma’am,” she said to the woman at her counter.

   The customer produced the store charge plate from her wallet and gave it to Alice. The teen, with her hair piled high in a cone-like fashion, took the charge plate, put it in the imprinter with a charge slip and then mashed down on the handle to complete the stamping of the cus...

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