“Good afternoon, Mr. Alan,” I said upon entering the store. He waved from the register. The door opened behind me and Evelyn walked in.
“Hey,” she said, offering me an awkward smile. I returned the gesture as I shifted my crutches.
We walked to the back of the store to put our stuff away when Dash jumped out of the office and hissed at Evelyn.
“I don’t know why that cat hates me,” she said.
I shifted uncomfortably, not used to being so vocal with her. Did she take my talk at the store as an invitation to befriend me? I mean, not that I minded, but it was pretty weird.
“He doesn’t like anyone,” I said. “But yeah, he seems to hate you the most.”
I turned to Mrs. Millie’s chair for her daily kiss but she wasn’t there. I halted in my steps and Evelyn bumped into me. My grip on the crutches loosened and I tilted forward. I would’ve fallen if Evelyn hadn’t pulled me back by my sweater.
“What the heck?” she asked, looking around me into the empty chair.
Even with my broken foot, I all but ran into the front of the store. “Hey, Mr. Alan? Where’s Mrs. Millie?”
He turned to look at me and from this distance, I could see the bags under his eyes sagging even more than usual. His shoulders slumped forward.
“She was ill this morning so I called her nurse and asked her to stay home with Millie.”
I glanced at Evelyn who shrugged and moved around to fold some clothes. I took my place behind the register as Mr. Alan began pricing the clearance items.
Two hours later and he’d made more mistakes than I did on my first day there. Even Evelyn noticed as she was hovering behind him, fixing his errors as he misplaced items on the shelves.
I bit my lip and limped around the counter.
“Mr. Alan?” I asked. He turned to face me and my heart ached at how tired he looked.
“Why don’t you go home with Mrs. Millie? The store hasn’t been very busy— I’d be more than willing to close the store today.”
He shook his head. “That’s very kind of you, dear, but I won’t make you stay until nine to close the store. Besides, there are only three hours left. It’s not much.”
I glanced at Evelyn who pursed her lips.
“Mr. Alan, please go home. Venus and I can stay until close.”
I saw the refusal in his eyes.
“Anyway,” I added. “It’ll be good for Evelyn to learn how to close.”
“Venus, I can’t leave my responsibilities with you. That would be—”
“It’ll be fine, Mr. Alan,” I interrupted him. “We can handle it.”
He glanced between us and I saw the hesitation in his eyes. I playfully glared at him.
“If you don’t go now I’ll be forced to use this on you,” I said, lifting a crutch into the air and waving it around.
He laughed and my heart warmed at the sound. “Alright, alright. Please just put it down, I don’t want you breaking anything.”
He gathered his things and kept reminding us of what we had to do, where things went, and how to close the store.
I couldn’t walk but Evelyn read my mind and all but pushed him out the door. With one last thank you, he was gone.
“He’s stubborn, isn’t he?” Evelyn asked.
I shrugged. “This store is important to them. He was torn between staying and going to his wife’s side.”
“How do you know so much about them?”
I looked out the window. “I first came to work with them when I was sixteen. Mrs. Millie was more involved in the store. But then she had a stroke and began losing her memory shortly after. I started helping out more since then.”
“Is that why you quit school?” Evelyn asked.
“Not exactly. I didn’t want to go to school anymore, but I didn’t want to not do anything with myself at the same time. I saw Mr. Alan struggling with his wife and running the store so I offered to work here full time.”
Evelyn nodded and reorganized the shoes on the shelves. “Their store isn’t doing well, is it?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “No, it’s not. But it was Mrs. Millie’s dream to open this place up. And they have more than enough money to keep it open, so that’s what Mr. Alan is doing.”
We kept working in silence, only receiving a few more customers as the hours passed by. My mind kept going back to when I first started working at the store, how energetic Mrs. Millie was. I’d always loved to hear her sing as she worked around the store, her raspy voice expressing the French words perfectly.
I remembered the rare days I’d see her and Mr. Alan dancing and giggling in the back room, swaying to a melody only they could hear. Those were the days my heart ached to find a love like theirs, to find a partner that would stand by my side as we grew old together.
Then the stroke happened and while we were relieved that she was alive, we could tell something was wrong with her. Slowly, she began forgetting things about the store. They were small details that we didn’t think much of it, but then one day she came in and tried to buy things like a regular customer. I’d laughed, thinking she was teasing me, but the look in her eyes was genuine. After that, her memory took a nosedive to the point where she had nearly forgotten how to function.
Despite the hardships, Mr. Alan stayed by her side and continued to love her even when she’d forgotten how to love him.
I shook my head as I glanced at the clock— it was nine o’clock already.
“Evelyn,” I called out. She walked out from the back. “Here, let me show you how to close this thing.”
I showed her how to lock the door, and to double check that it was closed. After that, I took the money to the back for counting while Evelyn cleaned up the front of the store.
As I went to the office, I stopped by Mrs. Millie’s chair and folded her blanket, setting it against the armrest. Holding my clutches under my arms, I made my way into the office to count and lock up the money.
“Venus, where do I turn off the lights?” Evelyn called out from the front.
“The switch is behind the flowerpot by the door to the back area,” I replied.
Within a few seconds, the lights went out, leaving only the one in the back room on. Finishing my task, I made my way to the open area to turn off the light.
My breath hitched as I saw someone sitting in Mrs. Millie’s chair.
“Evelyn?” I breathed out. Crutches grasped tightly in my hand, I made my way closer to the chair.
My body felt like ice as Mrs. Millie’s face turned to look at me.
“No,” I shook my head. “Oh, no, no, no, please no.”
I let my crutches go and I limped forward, falling to my knees. Pain shot up my leg but all I could notice at that point was Mrs. Millie looking blankly at the screen. She blurred as tears gathered in my eyes.
I reached out for her hand on the armrest but my hand went right through hers. The tears fell.
“No, Mrs. Millie, no.”
I screamed.
Evelyn came running to the back and stumbled in her step as her eyes went straight to the chair.
My body shook as I tried desperately to hold on to her hand, knowing that no matter how hard I tried I wouldn’t get to feel more than the cool air where her body was.
“Oh, Venus,” Mrs. Millie said, raising her hand to my cheek. I gasped as the cool air chilled my tears. “It’ll be alright.”
“Mrs. Millie, no. Why?” I choked out, not knowing what I was trying to ask. Not saying what I wanted to say.
But it didn’t matter because Mrs. Millie went back to staring at the TV screen.
Comments (0)
See all