# 5

Nola walked in the 7-11 shop sometime after 10.30 to buy milk and cigarettes. An orange fluorescence sign indicating ‘OPEN ALL NIGHT’ was flashing at the front of the shop, the ill-fated light reflecting inside. As she walked past the corridor with the DVDs she stopped to have a look. Five minutes later she picked out a film and walked over to pay. The Indian man behind the counter smiled at her when he saw the DVD and said ‘That’s a good choice!’ ‘Thanks!’ She replied smiling back. At that exact point Nola felt happy, she felt in total control of her life. Then, a hooded young man holding a shotgun burst into the shop shouting. The Indian man pulled a gun he kept loaded underneath his desk he hoped he would never have to use in his life. Shots were fired. She was just in the way. She was holding a copy of John Ford’s ‘The man who shot Liberty Valance’ when she fell on the floor