SIGHTS
Outside: Dingy gas pumps, wasps flying around overflowing garbage bins, slumped-shouldered gas attendants washing bug-splattered windows with squeegees, customers grumbling over the price of a fill-up, paper towel dispensers, a stack of window washer fluid on a pallet by the door, pay-at-the-pump signs, a motor oil display, a locked ice machine, bags of firewood, a giant sign showing current fuel prices, security cameras wired into the building or roof, painted yellow curb lines surrounding pump stations, grimy and graffiti-dressed restrooms for customers inside the store, window signs offering convenience store specials, giant RVs blocking access to the air hoses and dual pumps, muddy off-road trucks and motorbikes, cars and trucks, oil stains on the cracked pavement, a fuel truck pumping gas into an underground tank and making it difficult to maneuver
Inside: manual or automated doors, racks filled with food items (chips, candy bars, trail mix, cookies, pastries), a very limited grocery aisle, refrigerated coolers holding drinks (sodas, fruit juices, milk, waters, iced coffees, energy drinks, beer), a small prepared foods counter where quick meals can be bought (pizza slices, hot dogs, churros, sandwiches, fried chicken, fries), racks of magazines and newspapers, a basket of fresh fruit for sale, a checkout counter (an assistant ringing people up, a wall of tobacco products, adult magazines, lottery tickets)
SOUNDS
Outside: Gas caps being unscrewed, the metallic noise of a pump turning on or off, the gurgle of gas through the hose, music drifting out of parked cars, traffic whizzing past on the roadway, dogs barking in trucks, kids yelling at one another while being cooped up on a road trip, motorcycles revving, the ping of a cooling engine
Inside: till tape spitting out of the debit machine, coffee machines percolating, slush machines whirring, songs playing on the radio, the slap of a credit card on a plastic counter, the rustle of a chip bag being opened or a straw wrapper being removed, coins dropping into a cash register tray
SMELLS
Gasoline, dirty motor oil, trash spoiling in the hot sun, an air freshener dangling from a truck’s rearview mirror, exhaust, sunbaked pavement
TASTES
Road food and drinks (energy drinks, coffee, pop, sugary slush drinks, salty chips, powdery mini doughnuts, beef jerky, chocolate bars, power bars), cigarettes or tobacco chew
TEXTURES AND SENSATIONS
The grimy feel of the rubber gas nozzle, squeezing to maintain pressure as the gas pump fills, the wet stickiness of old takeout drinks or ice cream cups as one empties the car of trash, the rough feel of a paper towel torn from a dispenser, dirty water from the squeegee dripping on one’s leg or foot, chalky dust from a dirty car door or panel, shoving a credit card into the pump to pay, gasoline dripping on one’s foot when the nozzle is removed, ripping one’s receipt from the machine, the soft give of a car seat when one climbs back in, cool hand sanitizer applied after touching the pump
POSSIBLE SOURCES OF CONFLICT
Cars taking off without paying
A robbery
A drunk or inattentive driver angling too close to the pumps or the storefront and hitting something
Arguments between customers
A gas shortage that causes long lineups and short tempers
Rude drivers who park between pumps and restrict access to both
People trying to pay with coins and crumpled small bills
People holding up the line to buy large amounts of lottery and scratch tickets
Needing to use the restroom but being disgusted by its condition
Putting the wrong kind of gasoline in one’s car
A pump that isn’t working properly, so the customer has to go inside to pay and sign the receipt
A baby that screams whenever the car stops
PEOPLE COMMONLY FOUND HERE
Customers, delivery drivers, gas attendants, gas tanker drivers, kids on bikes
RELATED SETTINGS THAT MAY TIE IN WITH THIS ONE
Car wash, convenience store, parking lot, truck stop
SETTING NOTES AND TIPS
A fact of life is that everyone needs gas, including murderers, serial killers, outpatients from mental hospitals, porn stars, soccer moms, nuns, drug addicts, and even police officers. So while a gas station might seem like a rather bland setting, in reality, it can be just the opposite. Bring together a few clashing character types, throw in a security camera or two, and you have a stage set for brilliant conflict.
SETTING DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
Of course, the one day I was grossly late for work, all four pumps were busy. I pulled up behind a grimy yellow van and began tapping my fingers against the steering wheel in hopes the pot-bellied owner was almost through. Finally he gave the gas nozzle a tap and slid it back into the holder. I straightened, ready to shift into drive. But as he climbed into the van, the side door rolled open and half-a-dozen kids spilled out like ants fleeing a nest. They ran pell-mell, past the ice machine and racks of motor oil and through the automated convenience store doors. My head thumped back against the rest. I was going to die in this line.
Techniques and Devices Used: Hyperbole, simile
Resulting Effects: Passage of time, reinforcing emotion