She couldn't get the words out. Guilty knowledge of what she'd done trapped her tongue in a twist that made words come out in a babble.

"M'am?" The teller just wanted to count money and go home.

"Hey lady, get outta line if you don't know what ya want," said the man behind her. He was rude.

"I think there's something wrong with her, maybe she's, you know, slow," whispered the woman behind him to the lady behind her.

Alice turned a horrid hot pink.