Sammy then has an internal dialogue that he sides with the girls and in a rebellion against the "politics" mentioned by Lengel, regardless of whether the girls really were the same type of Sammy's rebellious spirit or if they simply stopped on or off a beach trying to avoid confrontation and hoping to leave soon. As the girls leave the convenience store Sammy yells "I'm leaving" as if the girls symbolize freedom from his boring dead-end job, hoping that the girls will take him with them and help him escape the daily "cash register watcher" life. "routine; feeling that he was too young to work so hard, too young to die so quickly. As Sammy prepared to leave the store, “Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient, old and grey. He's been friends with my parents for years. "Sammy, you don't want to do this to your mother and father," he tells me. It's true, I don't know. But it seems to me that once you start a gesture it's inevitable not to finish it written "Sammy" stitched on the red pocket, I put it on the counter and put the bow tie on it (page 432) at this point Sammy is threatened by Lengel's blackmail, but is not confronted by it and proceeds to take off his uniform, to symbolize his growth from the small convenience store. As Sammy walks through the door of the A&P he turns and sees Lengel's face: "His face was dark gray.