A Customer!
This is just a little piece set just before Todd enters Mrs Lovett's shop. Hope you enjoy it please review.
Disclaimer
Not mine
Nellie sighed as she watched another potential customer bustle past her shop. People didn't even bother granting the place an ill look when they walked past. Times were certainly hard indeed…They hadn't always been this bad mind…infact there were good times. They were a long time ago mind but they were still nice to think back on.
She remembered when her aunt used to take her down to the seaside when she was a little girl. She'd look forward to it for months. Her aunt used to come and pick her up early and they would spend the whole day there. She went for years and years. She only stopped going when her aunt thought she had grown to old for it. She had too much pride to tell her that wasn't so.
She sighed as she gave the counters another wash down. No matter how many times she wiped them they still seemed to wear a thick coat of flour. It was even more interesting she thought given she hadn't baked anything in well...too long.
She enjoyed baking that was why even as the business had been failing she had continued to bake. She only stopped when she couldn't afford the supplies.
What had happened? How had times got just so hard?
It was hard to pinpoint exactly how it had started. Was it because Mrs Mooney's pies had got so much better than hers? How could that be…she was almost certain her pies were made out of cats?
Money that's what it was all about really wasn't it? The world was becoming too dependant on the cold coins and notes that seemed to be able to promise everything you could ever possibly want.
She couldn't blame her money problems on Albert's death…infact they had gotten a little easier after he died. It would have been the poorhouse if she hadn't done something…it wasn't murder the man was rotting away in that God damn chair. She was pretty sure she had cried a little over it afterall he was her husband. She was sure she had but it had been a long time ago her memory was a little fuzzy.
She had made a bit of money selling on some of Albert's things, except his chair she hung onto that…she wasn't really sure why. She told herself it was for sentimental reasons but deep down she knew that wasn't really why she was keeping it. She just had a feeling it might be useful someday. She quite often got these feeling from time to time problem was they remained as vague as that. Regardless of what her reason was she held onto the chair just like she'd hung onto the razor blades…
She really should sell them she was inches from starvation and the poorhouse yet still she wouldn't sell them…
The customers would come back they had to…Mrs Mooney had to run out of cats one day.
She sighed as she opened again for another day blinking away the dark spots that danced in front of her eyes as she leaned against the counter. She needed money…times were getting so hard she couldn't hold out much longer. She really was thinking about selling the chair and razor blades. Her goods were running out she had no money to buy any more she really did have no choice…
As the hours dragged by she planned to wait until this day was out then she would take the items to a pawn shop in the morning. She hated that things had come to this but times were hard. She would not end up in the poor house that would be worse than this. She knew things couldn't go on as they were.
She gasped as she heard the door open…it couldn't be it was! "A customer!" she exclaimed as she headed towards the man who was still nothing but a shadow enter her shop. She felt filled with a sudden burst of energy. She couldn't allow the man to get away…She had a customer…yes she had one of them feelings again that everything was about to change.
"Did you come here for a pie sir?" she asked as her eyes met his…her heart almost stopped there and then…yes things really had changed and they were about to change again…she could feel it.