Proceed to Checkout is
a look into Martha, a Kleptomaniac’s life. I like how it starts, with a
receipt, but it doesn’t really fit if she is stealing, she wouldn’t get a
receipt. That makes it confusing in the end when it shows a receipt for the
cigarettes; it has a line for tax. So did Seth steal them, buy them, or did
Martha buy them for him? Either option is interesting but the ambiguity is just
confusing. I think if it’s stolen then the receipts should not resemble store
receipts. It could have a zero for total, but it shouldn’t look like what a
store gives.
I
also feel like this story is cut short. It ends with what looks like the
opening to another story, Seth’s story. That’s something I would like to read.
Is it his side of the story? His adventures? Why he went to the store with
Martha to sit out in the car, wouldn’t he be better used out front as a
distraction or companion? The relationship seems to be very deep and meaningful
and yet we see so little of it. At first I forgot Martha was only 23 and
thought she was an older mother figure to him. She still could be, or a
sisterly person, or there could be some sexual tension that would make the
relationship more complicated and interesting.
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