The double doors to the supermarket opened all by themselves. Just when Peter was looking for something on the glass he could push, they parted in the middle, and simply let him in. Peter crossed the threshold, stamping snow from his boots on the large welcome mat that lay beyond the entrance, and smiled. The window at the front of the store was easily ten cash tills wide, with as many aisles opposite it running the length of the store all the way to the back. A set of shiny cardboard stars dangled over the tills, highlighting the store’s many discounts. Their glossy sheen struck like headlights every time they spun towards the window. Peter unzipped his parka to release some of the heat and noticed a girl in a green tabard seated at one of the tills looking at him. Peter offered a smile and waved, but the girl’s face was unmoved by either joy or disdain. The smile dropped from Peter’s face and the girl looked back down again. It was only now that he heard the music. He’d only ever heard live stuff before, sung or played by a fiddle on the lake. But this was different. ‘Jingle Bells’ was playing on speakers, but the store was so cavernous, the notes seemed to swim, colliding into each other woozily like an echo.

Peter took a step back, suddenly unsure of how he felt being in a room so big you wouldn’t even call it a room any more. He turned back, watching the snow tumble in thicker drifts now against the large front window. The greying sky was luminous over the parking lot, making daylight at the front of the store seem harsher somehow. Fringes of black clouds glowed like silver. A blizzard was coming, he overheard an old couple say as they scurried in through the double doors shaking the snow from the ears of their trapper hats. One of the women was angry with the other for making them go outside in this weather. She rolled her hooded eyes at Peter, seeking solidarity with him, then broke into a gruff smile. Peter smiled back, taking comfort in that fleeting exchange, and quickly made the decision to stay. But the music changed to a tune he didn’t recognize, so he turned into the aisle lined with multicoloured cereal boxes and started to look around for Cooper.

The welcome pack boasted of the supermarket’s fully recreated ‘Shelves Galore Just Like Before’. And they weren’t kidding. There were as many things stuffed inside boxes all stuffed up on shelves as there were lights over Mainstreet. Just above Peter was a row of cereal boxes decorated with a cartoon of what looked like a chipmunk wearing a sheriff’s outfit. Kellogg’s Sugar Pops. The chipmunk, or whatever it was, was called Sugar Pops Pete. His candy stripe pistol blasted a bowl of cereal, filling it with milk.