Chapter 13: Shopping
The music in the van ends as Grandma stops at the first store we have to go to. Sitting in my seat, I slide my book back into the seat pocket as I watch Grandma take the key out and Grandpa opens his door, gets out and slides open my door.
"Time to get out." Grandpa says before I can even unbuckle my seat belt.
"And, Vanessa dear," Grandma calls me by my going out name as she opens her door. "Leave all books and toys inside the van. We don't want to lose anything."
"Okay." I unclick my seat belt and hop out.
Just like Grandma said, I leave all my toys and books where they are. I used to like to bring books, Barbies or other toys with me when I would go into a store, but after I lost my baby doll that I called Ellie, at the mall a long time ago when I was four. That was when I went with Uncle Jazz and Auntie Alice to buy fashion stuff as a surprise for my Mommy. But a horrible thing happened and my doll got lost forever because I sat her down in one of the many stores we went to and couldn't remember where I left her, worst of all neither of them were paying attention to where my doll got left behind. Ever since then I'm not allowed to take anything with me inside a store anymore.
That rule was put in place, not because we can't buy another toy if I lose it. But because I need to learn to take care of and keep track of my things. And because I might have thrown a fit after we walked through the entire mall sixteen times and couldn't find my doll. Which made Auntie Alice look into her visions to find my favorite doll while Uncle Jazz was holding me in his arms while I cried on his shoulder and he tried to make me happy by using his mood magic on me. His mood magic worked for a little burst but not very long because I was so upset. I kept crying as they kept walking, never once did Uncle Jazz put me down, even when I was crying very loudly and he quickly told Auntie Alice - in a voice so low that only us vampires could hear - that he was trying with all his might and wasn't sure why he couldn't calm me down with is gift. I kept crying and both of them weren't sure if I would ever get happy.
I did get happy...eventually. But it wasn't from Uncle Jazz's mood trick. Nope. I got happy once Auntie Alice suggested that we go on an adventure to buy a new doll. Only because she couldn't "see" my doll in any of her visions but she did kinda "see" us going on a road trip and then a fabulous shopping trip. The three of us left the mall right away with her talking on her phone to Daddy, telling him where we were going and why. We then hopped in her little yellow car and she drove us from Washington to California. It took us forever to get there. I took a lot of naps in the car, I was very tired.
When we finally stopped driving we ended up at the very big American Girl Doll Store in Los Angeles that's at an outdoor shopping mall with a real train that you can ride. We rode the train many times before we went into the best store ever, where I would get to pick out a new doll. I just didn't know there would be about a million dolls to choose from. Auntie Alice had looked as happy as I felt with all the pretty stuff that was in the store. I'm not sure why, but Uncle Jazz didn't seem too happy to be in a store full of dolls and tiny dresses. At one point he politely asked me to please pick a doll so we could leave.
I did get a new doll and friends for her and lots of outfits for them because Auntie Alice went crazy with all the cute doll clothes they have. She even bought clothes that I could wear that matched the dolls outfits - but I grew out of those a long time ago - and a bunch of furniture and cars for the dolls too. We even ate at the little Cafe that's inside the store. Well, they pretended to eat and I actually ate cheese pizza. I was hungry from our long trip and ate it all. They were so happy that I ate human food since I try very hard to avoid it. I was happy too but then I felt different from them because Auntie Alice only nibbled her avocado toast and Uncle Jasper didn't eat much of his grilled chicken sandwich. That's because vampires don't like food and that day I forgot about that.
After we ate we did a lot more shopping. By the time we left the store, we had so many bags of dolls, doll clothes and accessories that Uncle Jazz had to rent a van to take all the stuff home since it wouldn't fit in Auntie Alice's little car. I rode home with Uncle Jazz who allowed me to take out three dolls out of their boxes once we were on the road. I also took out some books that came with the dolls and read them out loud to him. He was actually interested in one doll named Addie that is from the time period from when he was human.
When we went home everyone was so surprised with how many items we had. After that very fun adventure I wasn't allowed to take any books or toys into stores with me anymore. That's because Mommy and Daddy said I was getting spoiled. Well...it was mostly Mommy but then Daddy agreed with her. I don't know why.
"I left everything in the van." I announce proudly and very loudly as I look up at Grandpa.
"Very good." Grandpa closes the door and grabs my hand.
Grandma comes over and takes a hold of my other hand. "But remember. When we go inside the store, we must practice using our inside voices."
"Okay." I say making my voice quiet.
Grandma and Grandpa praise me for listening as we begin walking through the parking of Home Depot, which is Grandma's absolute favorite store in the whole wide world. I skip and hum a little song that I made up as Grandma and Grandpa walk and talk and hold my hands.
Walking into Home Depot, Grandma lets go of my hand and walks over to where the long orange carts for wood are lined up in a neat roll. Before she even grabs a cart I see the most fun carts lined up on the opposite wall. There's three of them and the front part where the space for kids to sit in looks like a car and even has a steering wheel. The last two times Grandma and I came here they didn't have those carts. I really want to sit in one of those.
"Pa," I say to Grandpa, he looks at me. "We need one of those." I point to the fun cart.
Grandpa turns his head and looks at what I'm pointing to. At the same time Grandma pushes her very big cart over to us. Before Grandpa speaks a word Grandma does.
"Nessie, you're a bit too big for those. I don't think you would fit properly." Grandma points out.
I make a sad face and look down at the floor. I don't like hearing that I'm too big for something that is supposed to be for kids, like the time when I was told I was too big to ride a pony at a petting zoo. It makes me feel sad when I'm too tall to do certain things. After all, I am seven, I am still a kid. All I want to do is have fun.
"Don't be sad, don't be blue," Grandpa puts his hand under my chin and lifts my head up. I look at him. "Childhood is too short for that."
I don't know what that's supposed to mean. I also don't know how to answer that so I don't say anything. I blink my eyes and the next thing I know is that I'm being lifted up off the floor. I close my eyes again and when I open my eyes I'm in the cart that looks like a car with Grandpa standing behind me. I am happy even though I have to sit sideways and my knees touch the steering wheel.
"Oh my." Grandma says with a giggle, looking at me. "Are you comfy, Vanessa?"
"Happy now?" Grandpa wonders as he puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Yup." I answer both of their questions happily. I move my knees a little and place my hands on the gray plastic steering wheel, just the way Daddy does it when he drives a car. I feel like I'm driving.
Grandma smiles at us. He begins to push her long cart away from the entrance, going further inside the store.
"Good." Grandpa begins to push the shopping cart and I pretend I'm driving. "Now let's go get everything your mother needs."
"Okay." I agree. I know he means Grandma but he says mother because we are at a store. They have to pretend to be my parents when we are out, that's just the way it is. "I'm going to drive really, really fast." I spin the steering wheel extremely fast.
"Not too fast. You don't want to be a crazy driver." Grandpa chuckles.
I make the sound of a car engine and spin the steering wheel around and around. I'm pretending I'm a fast driver just like Daddy. I like how fast he drives even though Mommy doesn't. His speedy driving scares her but not me. But it's too bad that my parents are pretending to be too young to drive and can't get their driver's licenses until next year. I don't like that part, I like when they can drive.
"Ness, be careful, now. Don't break that." Grandma warns, she is right behind us.
"I won't." I stop spinning the steering wheel so fast. I do it a bit slower.
As I pretend to drive while my grandparents push the carts throughout the store. Grandma begins telling Grandpa what she needs from this spare of the moment shopping trip, as she calls it. It's just a bunch of wood, nails and other stuff that is boring. I'm not really listening, I'm having fun driving and thinking of why we stopped here in the first place.
It's not a trip to get flowers or to fix something that is broken like our usual trips here. It's more of a special shopping trip. Grandma had decided to stop here once she and Grandpa agreed to buy me a chicken because it would need a place to sleep and instead of buying a cage for my pet chicken, Grandma decided she'll make a chicken hutch for my pet that we will buy before we go home. She said I can help her build it, I like that idea. I like helping.
When Grandpa and Grandma agreed that I could have a chicken for a pet I was very excited. So excited that I squealed very happily and loudly in the backseat of the van. So loudly that Grandpa said I hurt his ears. He even pretended he couldn't hear for a while, everytime Grandma or I said something to him he kept saying the word "what". It was very funny.
Suddenly my cart stops even though I don't want it to. I look around and notice that we are in the wood aisle now. While I sit in my cart, pretending to drive even though I am not moving, Grandpa helps Grandma load up all the wood on the flat cart that we need for the chicken hutch, for my very own chicken. Once we have all the wood my cart begins to move and we go into the aisle with all the nails and screws.
Lots and lots of time goes by and Grandma is still trying to pick out the best screws and nails. She can't decide which ones to get and there are so many. Grandpa is doing his best to help her, but he doesn't really know what he's doing. He seems confused. I look at them as they keep picking up more boxes of nails and screws and putting other ones down. This is very boring. I don't like waiting around and doing nothing.
While I play with the plastic steering wheel that isn't too much fun when the cart is standing still, I keep my eyes on Grandma and Grandpa. They are still talking and haven't decided which is the best item to get. I don't think we are ever going to leave.
As bored as can be I place my arms on the cool metal bars and rest my head on top of my arms like I'm sleepy. I don't like waiting. I'm starting to feel that we will never leave. I think my new home is at Home Depot in the nail aisle, to be exact.
I close my eyes and start to think about the most fun thing that I can do at Home Depot. But since I'm inside the cart and I can't leave my grandparents because I'm supposed to stay with them since we are inside a store and they don't want me to get lost. I can't go to the best aisle there is without them going with me.
"Pa," I say without lifting my head.
"Yes, sweetie," Grandpa stops focusing on the boxes Grandma is holding and turns around. He looks at me with big eyes. "Are you bored?"
"Can we go to the splotch aisle?" I wonder, not answering his question.
Grandpa looks confused. "Love," He says to Grandma. "What is the splotch aisle?"
Grandma giggles. "She means swatches. She wants to go to the paint aisle to get the paint swatches that she likes so much."
"Oh." Grandpa rubs the back of his neck with his hand.
Since Grandpa is usually at work when Grandma and I come to Home Depot, he had no way of knowing that my favorite aisle is the splotch aisle because I like to get the little color cards, take them home and play with them, by making place mats and other things for my dolls out of them. So that's why he seems confused and embarrassed, because he didn't know.
I pick my head up. "So can we go? I would like some splotchies, please." I smile very sweetly.
"Let's wait until Ma picks the screws she needs." Is his reply.
I make a sad face.
I want to go to the paint aisle to pick out my splotches. I know I can't go alone even though I know I could hop out of the cart and jump onto the floor without getting hurt, the way no human kid would be able to do. But since I know I'm not allowed to show off my vampire side when we are out, like jumping the way we can or running real fast. I don't try to get out of the cart. Instead I look over at Grandma and Grandpa, they still haven't decided what is better to get, screws or nails. I really don't think we are ever going to leave.
"We are never going to leave." I begin to sing. "We are staying here forever, forever, forever. We're going to move into the nail and screw aisle because we are never leaving." I sing a song that I'm making up as a few people walk down the aisle.
I keep singing my song and finally Grandpa and Grandma move from where they are. I think Grandma is finally finished picking out nails, she has lots of boxes that she's holding. Both of them walk over to me.
"Do we get to go to the splotch aisle now?" I ask hopefully.
"Have patience, my dear." Grandma puts all the boxes of nails in my cart. "I have a few more things I need to get then we will go to the paint aisle." She pats my cheek.
"Oh." I say sadly. I was really hoping to go where I wanted to go.
"I have an idea." Grandpa looks at Grandma. "Why don't I take her to the paint aisle and we'll meet you up at the register?"
Hearing that, I feel very happy. I look at Grandma to see what she will say.
"Sounds good to me." Grandma smiles.
"Yay!" I clap my hands at that. It's a very good idea.
At the same time Grandma starts pushing her long orange cart with all the wood, Grandpa pushes the cart I am sitting in. As we leave the aisle I begin to give him directions to where we are going so he can make the cart go where I am pointing the steering wheel, that way it seems like I am really driving. He pushes the cart exactly where I want it to go as he does the sound of a car engine. Still keeping a human pace, but going very fast and being silly, Grandpa takes me to the best aisle in all of Home Depot...but it's closed off. No one can go into the paint aisle.
"Paint aisle is closed for cleaning." A man that works at Home Depot, who's holding a mop, annonces to us. "There was an accident with a couple spray cans falling and making a mess on the floor."
"Alight." Grandpa says and turns the cart around.
"No! I have to get to my kingdom." I say in a very dramatic way. I'm pretending I'm the Queen of slouch town.
"Sorry, sweetie. We can't go there." Grandpa pats my shoulder.
"That's not fair." I don't understand why the paint aisle has to be closed.
"I know." Grandpa says softly. "Let's go find Ma."
"Okay."
Since I am sad that I didn't get to do what I wanted, Grandpa tries to cheer me up. He begins to make the cart all zig-zaggy and talk in a goofy voice as he tells me the cart is going to crash while we make our way to the front of the store. People look at us but we don't care. I can't stop giggling. I like when Grandpa plays. He gets really silly, but our silliness comes to an end when we get to the front of the store and Grandma is nowhere to be found. Since my legs feel too cramped and I tell Grandpa they hurt, he gets me out of the cart and then the box of screws. He holds my hand as we begin to walk to Grandma's favorite part of Home Depot, the garden section.
With every step we take Grandma's scent becomes stronger and so does the beautiful smell of flowers.
"She's this way." I pull Grandpa to the direction of the flowers.
"Of course." Grandpa chuckles.
As soon as we walk into the garden aisle Grandma is there, stocking up on pretty flowers and one little palm tree. She has lots and lots of colorful flowers on her cart with all the wood because we can't have enough flowers. That's what she always says and I think it's true. Right away I let go of Grandpa's hand and run over to Grandma. I run as fast as a pony but the floor is slippery under my shoes. I end up running right past Grandma, I trip and fall and do a somersault right into a display of garden gnomes. They all go crash and bang and the shelf that they are on goes boom.
"Ahhh!" I scream as garden gnomes fall down like rain and crash like lightning to the floor.
I lay on the floor covering my head with my hands and closing my eyes as colorful garden gnomes cover me and the shelf crashes to the ground in the opposite direction. I hear a loud noise that sounds like pots falling over. I also hear people shouting. Everyone sounds scared.
"Nessie!" I hear Grandma and Grandpa yell.
"I'm okay. I didn't even hurt my noggin." I say popping out of the mess the way a daisy pops out of the ground. The next thing I know I'm wrapped up in a group hug.
"Thank goodness you're alright." Grandma says, not letting go of me. She starts to kiss my cheek a million times.
"Yes. We're very grateful you're unharm." Grandpa says, as he kisses the top of my head.
When our hug ends I notice that there are a bunch of people all surrounding us. First in the crowd are a bunch of people that work at Home Depot and shoppers behind them. People are talking all at once and someone questions if we need an ambulance. Grandpa picks me up, places me in a spot that is not messy and quickly checks me over. I'm not hurt and he's a doctor so he says an ambulance is not necessary.
I feel a bit embarrassed that I made such a big mess. Sometimes I can be so clumsy, which I don't like because vampires are supposed to be very graceful. This is not the first time I have done something like this and it probably won't be the last. I once was pushing a shopping cart outside a toy store in the parking lot. It got away from me when I tripped over my own feet, landed face first in a puddle of muddy water and the shopping cart hit a parked car which made the car horn honk loudly. I was with Mommy, Auntie Alice and Uncle Em at that time.
Mommy rushed to help me up with Auntie Alice by her side. Uncle Em was laughing so hard he fell to the ground just as the people who owned the car came out. Between his laughing fit he had said that Mommy may be a very refined vampire but her clumsiness survived and attached itself to me like a parasite. I have no idea what that meant but it made Mommy very mad. She said something to Uncle Em that I'm not allowed to repeat which made him stop laughing and put his arms up in the air like he was surrendering. Auntie Alice was mad at him too and I didn't like Uncle Em laughing at me, I stuck my tongue out at him and made an angry face. When he finally realized I was upset with him too he said he was sorry. To make it up to me he bought me a toy elephant that talks and eats toy food.
Another time I made an avalanche of potatoes and tomatoes inside a store just by touching one round tomato that was next to the potatoes. They all rolled around on the floor and a lady slipped and fell and landed right on a heap of tomatoes. I don't want to talk about that, though. That was too messy.
With the whole Home Depot mess behind us and someone cleaning it up. Grandma, Grandpa and I walk right to the checkout to pay for everything that we are buying plus what I broke. It's a lot of money that Grandpa hands to the cashier. With everything paid for it's time for us to leave and go to the other stores before we go get my chicken. Hopefully I won't be so accident prone at the other stores.
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Thank you for reading.
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