The Lady Behind the counter

The heat of the place always made her flush.. and she didn't like to flush... Someone might think something was wrong.. that she couldn't do her job... Sure she had a handicap.. and no she didn't believe in the handi-capable bullshit.. She just survived... Everyone told her she had a beautiful smile... Funny, thats what he had told her too.. So long ago - how old were they fourteen -fifteen.. They were in class together and afterwards he walked her home, clowning and joking all the way.. Later he told he did that just so he could see her smile.. They had loved each other so much.. So much that before they could graduate, they became a family.. Him her and the beautiful little boy to whom she gave birth... It was a struggle.. But both sets of parents helped and he graduated and got a job as a mechanic- he was so good with his hands... and they finally had moved out of her parents basement into a small apartment of their own.. Finally things were looking so good.. It was truly an accident.. then night was clear, the roads were dry, the other driver nor them had imbibed... But the other driver had an unknown heart condition, and just as he went past them his heart gave out... All she could really remember was the sound of screaming steel and shrieking glass ...and then silence... and there was days of silence.. She came out of her coma two weeks later to find her husband and child dead and buried.. and her body torn and broken.. The doctors worked wonders .. healing her rehabilitating her, until all that as left was a hip that caused a limp.. no pain, but a sign that she was damaged... and enough of a problem to wear her out quicker than others... But her smile.. it was still there.. the same lovely smile... and she gives it out freely... So no one looks any further behind the counter.. or behind her eyes...