Laverne's New Job
Disclaimer: I do not own Arthur or any of its characters or content from the series. The characters and etc. from Arthur belong to Marc Brown, PBS, WGBH, and Cookie Jar (formerly CINAR).
One Saturday afternoon at the Frenskys' apartment, 11-year-old Francine Frensky and her sister 19-year-old Catherine were in their room. Francine's hair was long and she had bangs, and she was wearing a red plastic headband, a red shirt like she likes to wear, a pair of blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. Catherine's hair was long and she had bangs, her long hair was tied into a ponytail, and she was wearing a red baseball cap backwards, a white shirt, a blue shirt jacket, blue jeans, and purple and white sneakers. Francine was playing on the small electronic piano that Arthur gave to her for her 9th birthday just for fun at the desk next to their black computer with the CRT monitor mounted on it. Francine was playing the piano in PERCUSSION MODE where the drums were heard when playing the keys. Catherine was dancing along as Francine was playing. Their mother, Laverne who was in her 40s was vacuuming the living room carpeting. The father, Oliver who was also in his 40s was working at the Elwood City Dump.
Francine and Catherine then walked out of their room and into the living room where they could hear Laverne vacuuming the carpeting. Laverne's hair was long and she had bangs, and she was wearing a red short-sleeved shirt, blue shorts, and tan sandals.
"Mother!" called Catherine.
"Mama!" called Francine.
Laverne then turned off the vacuum.
"What do you want, girls?" asked Laverne.
"Why don't you get a job?" Francine suggested.
"Yeah, what can you do better than do chores at home?" asked Catherine. "You're our mother, and I have a job already."
"But there are too many people applying for jobs," said Laverne. "I'm afraid I can't go to work somewhere."
"Yes, you can," said Francine.
"There's that one antique store around," Catherine suggested. "I drove by after work yesterday, and it says that they're hiring."
"And I go shopping there if there is something I would like to buy," said Francine. "I don't usually like to shop, but I go there if I can only find what I can afford. My friend Muffy likes to shop for new things at the Mill Creek Mall, but yet I can find some things cool, too."
"Now hiring?" said Laverne. "All right, girls. I can go apply there as soon as I get done cleaning the living room."
Laverne then turned the vacuum back on and continued vacuuming the carpeting, and Francine and Catherine headed back to their room. Francine sat back down at the desk and continued playing the piano, and Catherine continued dancing along.
When Laverne was done vacuuming the living room carpeting, the room looked shiny and clean. She picked up a set of keys on the key rack by the front door, in which the set included the car keys and the apartment key, then walked out of the apartment, down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the front door of the Westboro Apartments complex, and to She walked over to the full-sized 4-door sedan that she and Catherine both shared driving. On the exterior, the car was brown with two red lines around it, dual circular headlamps, rectangle taillights, a single exhaust system, and old-style wheel rims; on the interior, the seats were red, the ignition and gear shift were mounted on the steering column, and the windows on the doors were operated by rotating the crank. Laverne then unlocked the car door with the car door key, opened the door, stepped inside the car, and closed the door. She put the ignition key in the ignition and began to start the car. While she was starting the car, the engine was clicking, and all she had to do was to rapidly pump the accelerator in order for it to start and run. Then she put the car in gear and left the parking lot. She drove all the way to the antique shop that was nine blocks away from Westboro Apartments.
As Laverne reached the antique store, she parked in a parking lot, stepped out of the car, and walked all the way to the antique store. On the window, there was an OPEN sign in red and blue neon lights that was flashing, a yellow sign that said NOW HIRING in black letters, and a red sign that said the store hours in white letters. The STORE HOURS sign read that it was open from 9:00 AM through 5:00 PM on Mondays through Thursdays, from 9:00 AM through 6:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays, and that it was closed on Sundays.
Laverne then walked inside the store and then she picked up the application at the counter, filled it out, and then turned it in. Inside the store, there were a bunch of items that were made around the century. On the rear end of the cash register that was facing where the customers go, there was a sign with a slashed out symbol of a credit card or debit card and it said: SORRY, WE DO NOT ACCEPT CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS, but it did allow customers to pay bills or checks.
After she filled out the application, she left the store and went back to the car, and headed back to her apartment.
Two days later, while Francine was at school and while Catherine was at work at the Sugar Bowl, Laverne came back to the antique store for an interview. Laverne answered the questions very well, and was glad to meet with the owner of the store.
Meanwhile at school, during 6th grade science class, Francine told some of her friends about the new job that her mother was going to work at. Many of her friends from Mr. Ratburn's 3rd grade class were on the same team she was on. 11-year-old Arthur Read had short brown hair with bangs and was wearing round brown glasses, a yellow sweater with a white shirt underneath, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. 11-year-old Buster Baxter had short auburn hair with bangs and was wearing a cyan sweater with an orange collar, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. 11-year-old Muffy Crosswire had very long hair and she had bangs, her long hair was in straight pigtails, and she was wearing a white blouse, a purple dress, and purple loafers, and she had braces on her teeth that she had since the second half of fifth grade. 11-year-old Alan Powers who often goes by "the Brain" has short brown hair with bangs and was wearing a green sweater with a white shirt underneath, blue jeans, and brown shoes.
"Hey, Muffy," said Francine. "Guess where my mama's working at?"
"Where?" asked Muffy.
"The antique store," said Francine. "That one store where they sell antiques."
"Antiques?" said Muffy. "Who cares to buy that worthless junk when you go there?"
"They're not junk," said Francine. "People just sell items in that store if they don't need it anymore. There are plenty of antiques that are in mint condition there."
"Yeah," said Muffy. "My family usually just purchases brand new items. We only sell what we don't need anymore, but more than 90% of the time, we keep them, because they still mean a lot to us."
"Yeah," said Francine. "You guys buy a lot of stuff our family doesn't want to spend the money for. And besides, I don't usually like to shop."
"That's because your family can't afford anything good," said Muffy.
"Whatever," said Francine. "Antiques are good too, I mean if they're in mint condition."
"Well it's pretty hard to find antiques that are in mint condition," said Muffy.
"Not the condition," said Francine. "Old things are harder to find if the company that manufactured them doesn't make them anymore, or if the company shut down or became purchased by another company."
"Like a doll?" asked Muffy.
"Yes," said Francine. "There are a lot of dolls that can especially mean a lot to people that now have grandchildren."
"Well, you better get used to it, Francine," said Muffy. "When people sell things, most people don't care for that stuff anymore and don't want to buy them, because they're out of date."
"Just wait and see, my friend," said Francine. "If you shop there, you'll learn to get used to that store. My mother's going to work there someday, and she doesn't want to hear you say anything negative. It shouldn't matter what you buy, no matter how many years old it is. If you don't like it, don't say anything."
"Of course," said Muffy. "I would never want to embarrass people."
"Well, I hope you're used to going to that antique store by the time my mother works there," said Francine.
The next day, Laverne became employed at the antique store. As she was employed, she was getting a lot of training there: learning how to arrange things, clean around the store, and use the cash register.
After training at work, Laverne came home, and Catherine came home from work at the Sugar Bowl after Laverne picked her up.
"Guess what, Francine?" asked Laverne. "I got a job."
"Good for you," said Francine.
And if Laverne and Catherine were both at work, Francine could just hang out with her friends and work together doing homework until 5:00 PM.
The next day, after school, Francine decided to lead her friends to the antique store where her mother now works at. Arthur, Buster, the Brain, and Muffy were following her.
"This way, you guys," said Francine, pointing to the direction to reach the store.
In fifteen minutes, they reached the antique store.
"Let's go inside," said Francine.
Francine, Arthur, Buster, the Brain, and Muffy walked into the store.
Inside the store, Laverne was at the counter with some other employees. Francine and her friends went looking around at stuff. They looked in living room collectibles section, and in that section, there was a table lamp that was over twenty years old, a vase that was over ten years old, a set of picture frames that were over thirty years old, a standing lamp that was over twenty years old, and much more.
Then they walked to the toys section. In the toys section, there was a Bionic Bunny action figure in a box that hadn't quite been opened, but it obviously wasn't from Arthur or any of his friends, whoever sold it there. More items in the toys section included a porcelain doll with long orange hair and bangs, a pink plaid dress, and white shoes that was over forty years old, but in excellent shape; a talking doll girl with long brown hair and bangs, a purple dress, and white shoes that was over ten years old; a fashion doll with long brown hair and bangs, a blue dress, and blue high-heeled shoes that was over ten years old; a gray cat doll known as "Tina the Talking Tabby" with a white flowered hat, a purple dress, and purple shoes; a red toy 1971 Chevrolet Impala 4-door sedan, a Polly Locket doll with blonde hair and bangs, a pink shirt and purple pants, and purple shoes that was over five years old; and many more toys.
"A Bionic Bunny action figure," said Arthur, picking up the box with the Bionic Bunny figure in it. "I have a large collection of them, even this one."
Then Arthur read the back of the box. It was dated back in 1991. Then he put the box with the figure in it back where he found it.
Then Francine and her friends walked over to the electronics sections. In the electronics section, there were three black CRT TVs with woodgrain paneling, four black notebook computers, six white computers, six white CRT monitors, eight white keyboards, nine white mice, seven printers, six scanners, eight speakers, eleven headsets, eight microphones, four black electronic pianos, twelve stereo players, eight audiocassette players, nine VCRs, and four record players.
"This is where I purchased an electronic piano for Francine's 9th birthday," said Arthur. "When I picked it up, it said that it was dated back in 1986."
"Yeah," said Francine. "That piano was pretty much '80s when I first looked at it."
"So is my family's car," said Arthur. "My family's car is a 1987 and they bought it shortly before I was born. And that car is now over 100,000 miles."
"And my mother and sister's car they both share is a 1972 and it's over 200,000 miles," said Francine, "except it doesn't have the hundred-thousand in place value."
"Nor does my family's car," said Arthur.
Then they walked over to the movies and TV shows section. In that section, there were rows of VHS cassettes in the shelves. Some of them were in clamshell cases, some were in slipcases, and some were in spare plastic cases if they lost their original cases by their previous owners. There were three Bionic Bunny videos and two Mary Moo Cow videos from the entire row of cassettes, but they weren't from Arthur or any of his friends, or from D.W. or any of her friends.
Then they walked over to the music section. In that section, there were vinyl records from over the years.
"These records are cool," said Francine. "Even my parents have a record player in their room."
Then they walked over to where the porcelain pottery was located. There were plates, teacups, saucers, teapots, dishes, mugs, cups, and pitchers. Some of them had flower designs.
"Even people could buy stuff like these as a collection," said Francine as she pointed to the porcelain stuff with her hand.
Then they walked over to the computer and video games section. There were some video game consoles from the 1980s and from the early 1990s, video games that were cartridges with labels, video game controllers, and of course computer games where some were on floppy disks and others were on CDs. Buster picked up a game called Super Bionic Bunny.
"Wow!" said Buster. "I liked playing those Bionic Bunny video games."
"I always loved those games," said Arthur.
"I have Super Bionic Bunny for the SNES," said Francine. "That's the only Bionic Bunny video game I have, and of course the fourth Bionic Bunny video game in that series."
Then they walked over to the furniture section. There was a red sofa with striped cushions, a blue sofa with plaid cushions, a purple loveseat, a maroon lounge chair, and three footstools in maroon, blue, and tan.
"Wow," said Francine. "Those living room chairs are sure fun to sit on. And very relaxing."
"Nice display," said Muffy. "But my family only gets new stuff. We just buy the furniture at the local furniture store."
Then they walked over to the small appliances section. There were four microwave ovens: one was over five years old, two were over ten years old, and another was over twenty years old. There were six coffee machines: two were regular coffee machines over ten years old while one was over twenty years old, and two were espresso machines over ten years old while one was over twenty years old. There were four pop-up toasters: one was over ten years old, another was over twenty years old, another was over forty years old, and another was over fifty years old. There were three toaster ovens: one was over ten years old, another was over twenty years old, and another was over thirty years old. There were six electric hand mixers: one was over ten years old, two were over twenty years old, another two were over thirty years old, and another was over forty years old. There were three stand-up mixers: one was over five years old, another was over ten years old, and another was over twenty years old. There were four beverage blenders: one was over five years old, another was over ten years old, another was over twenty years old, and another was over thirty years old.
"I love to use the hand mixers," said the Brain. "They're great for my strengths."
"But my mommy and I prefer the stand-up mixers," said Muffy. "Besides we use the remote controller to operate it, and we get the tasks done without much trouble."
"Even I tutored you guys back in the third grade, so you guys could use the handheld mixers, yourselves," said the Brain.
"Whatever," said Muffy. "I would just use what I would prefer."
Then Francine and her friends walked out of the antique store.
"Well, it was nice to go look around," said Francine.
They all headed to the tree house to do some homework together.
Two hours after Francine and her friends all went home, Prunella Deegan's sister, 21-year-old Rubella walked into the antique store. She then walked into the store and walked over to look for movies. She spotted a clamshell case that was titled Automobile Fortune. She had watched that movie on television since she was in high school. She wanted to go buy it on VHS, but every time she went shopping, the movie was never there, since too many copies were being sold. She then took the movie out of the shelf and looked at the front cover that depicted a young woman who was a cat, a cootie catcher, and a crystal ball that showed her blue car. She then looked at the back cover and its summary was about a young 24-year-old woman who had a beloved 1964 model year car that was going into mechanical flaws, and she asked the cootie catcher what will happen to her car, and it told her that she will get the car restored, and that if she doesn't, she will be cursed. After Rubella read the summary, she read that the movie was released in cinemas back in 1986, and it was released onto VHS in 1994.
Rubella then walked to the counter with the movie, Automobile Fortune in her hand and placed it on the counter. Laverne then typed on the cash register. The movie was $9.50.
"$9.50," said Laverne.
Rubella then took her lavender wallet out of her purse and took out a $10 bill and paid. Then Laverne typed $10.00 on the cash register and rung open the drawer. Then she handed the change to Rubella.
".50 is your change," said Laverne, handing the change to Rubella.
Then Rubella put the penny into her wallet and put the wallet back in her purse. Laverne then took the receipt out of the printer and then put the movie and receipt into a brown bag, and handed the bag to Rubella.
"Thanks," said Rubella.
"My pleasure," said Laverne.
Then Rubella walked out of the store.
Later, after 5:00, Laverne left from work as the store was closing for the day. She stepped inside the car and drove to the Sugar Bowl to pick up Catherine from work, and then they both went back to their apartment. Francine then walked back to her family's apartment nearly ten minutes after her mother and sister came home. Francine then walked into her and Catherine's room and started reading a book. Catherine then went into the same room Francine, sat behind the computer, boot it up, put in a floppy disk game called '80s Racing Adventure, and started playing the game.
The next day, at 4:00, Mr. Ratburn who was in his mid-30s walked into the antique store where Laverne was working. Mr. Ratburn found a figurine of a Japanese martial arts fighter that was over ten years old. He carried it to the counter where Laverne was. He bought the figure for $9.50.
"Do you remember me?" asked Mr. Ratburn.
"Yes, it's Nigel, right?" replied Laverne.
"That's right," said Mr. Ratburn.
In the next thirty minutes, Arthur's mother Jane who was in her mid-30s came into the antique shop. She found a large pink vase with yellow daisies painted on them that was over thirty years old, but it was in very mint condition. She walked up to the counter to pay for the vase. Laverne was at the cash register. The vase was $16.50. Jane wrote out the check and paid it. Laverne then put the vase in the bag, and then Jane picked up the bag with the vase and walked out of the store and headed on home.
At the Reads' house, Arthur, Buster, Francine, and the Brain were watching Bionic Bunny on VHS. Jane came into the house and placed the vase on the living room table. Then she took some flowers out of a plastic bag that she also bought and put the flowers into the vase.
Meanwhile, at Rubella's apartment in Westboro Apartments, Rubella and her sister 12-year-old Prunella were both watching Automobile Fortune. Prunella's hair was very long and she still had bangs, and she was wearing a yellow plaid dress, brown shoes, and pair of long socks. On the screen, the character was fighting to keep the car that meant a lot to her. She was going to ask the cootie catcher if she should get it restored. She said "blue" and spelled it out, then said "3" and counted to three, and then said "6" and its fortune said "Yes".
On Friday, during literature class, Francine told Muffy exactly what she found at the shop that Muffy might like.
"I saw a princess doll at the store," said Francine. "And it's really mint. I hope you will like it."
"Okay," said Muffy. "I'll go shop for it."
After school, Francine and Muffy walked to the antique store. Francine spotted a princess doll that had long yellow hair and bangs and wearing a silver crown, earrings, a purple dress, and purple high-heeled shoes. The doll was still in the box and its original owner had not unboxed it, and it was over five years old. Francine picked up the box and handed it to Muffy.
"This will be great," said Muffy.
Then Francine and Muffy walked over to the counter. Laverne was there as usual. Muffy put the boxed princess doll on the counter. The doll was $6.50. Muffy didn't need a bag, so all she needed to carry was the box.
After shopping, Francine went over to the Reads' house to do some homework with Arthur, and Muffy went home back to her family's mansion. Muffy then unboxed the princess doll and put it on her dresser next to the lamp. The doll had a footholder to keep it standing up, and the footholder was a circle around. Muffy then suggested that the doll would make her dreams happier.
Later, at 6:00, Catherine drove to pick up Laverne from work. Then they went home.
At home, Francine was reading a Bionic Bunny comic book in the living room, and Nemo was sitting next to her. As Laverne and Catherine walked into their apartment, Laverne told Francine that she was proud of her job, and then explained that it's fun to go shopping for antiques, especially when things are quite the memories.
THE END