# of Words: 255

The narrator is assessing markets when he realizes that three barefoot women in bathing suits have walked into the store. The leader of the trio, that has her bathing suit straps down, grabs his attention. She walks like a princess throughout the store, never turning to look at the narrator or his coworker, Stokesie. The narrator has pleasure watching the jolt of the other customers, that are not utilized to seeing bathing suits in the A&P.

She gets into the narrator's checkout lane and begs to cover him with a dollar bill that she takes out of her bathing suit top. Then Lengel, the director of the A&P, comes in from outside, sees the women, and let them off for wearing nothing but skimpy swimsuits from the store. They argue with him, but he tells them they better apparel right next time or never arrive again. Lengel informs the narrator, whose name is Sammy, to ring the women up.

Sammy does what he is told, but then he informs Lengel he is quitting. The women likely hear him, however they don't turn around. Lengel warns Sammy that stopping will destroy his lifetime, but Sammy ends in his apron and bow tie and saunters out into the parking lot. If he was expecting to discover the girls, he is out of luck -- they're long gone. Sammy watches Lengel checking markets in Sammy's lane. Lengel looks stiff and hard, and Sammy "[feels] how challenging the entire world [is] going to be to [him] hereafter".

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