Chapter 2: Help at the store
"Mom, Dad! Come here and hurry! We have a slight problem." Karen hollered so that it reached all corners of the house.
"Coming honey, hold on a second." Sasha, Karen's mom answered.
She walked briskly, her blue dress swaying a slight bit with every step she took.
"Hold on dear I'm in the potty poo, I mean the bathroom." Her father answered back.
flushhhhhhhhhhhhh, clug, clug, clug, clug
"Sasha, honey, where's the plunger? I also have a slight problem." Jeff meekly called out to her.
"Jeff, honey, there's no time for that now. Karen needs us." Sasha called back with a slight bit of irritation.
Jeff walked down the stairs, whistling as he did so, receiving two glares, "Well, what is it Karen?"
"I found a boy about my age collapsed on the doorstep, with his bird. He seemed really hungry.........and cold.........and tired" Karen sighed. (She's laying it on pretty thick isn't she)
'Well did you leave him out there? Is he okay?" Sasha's mothering instinct hit her head on.
"Yeah mom, he's fine I hope. I mean he cold have come down with pneumonia or something. Maybe even asthma. I brought him into the store like a good neighbor should. I didn't want to bring his bird inside. You know, in case it's got rabies or fleas or something." Sasha's green eyes softened.(I know, I know, bird don't get rabies. Not sure if they get fleas though.........)
"Well, let's go get him. Come along Karen, come along Jeff." They walked out of the backroom with Sasha leading the way.
"Mom, please stop treating me like a baby, I'm nineteen you know. I'm not your little pumpkin pie anymore." Karen pouted and crossed her arms.
"You sure act like one still though." Her mother muttered under her breath.
"You got that right dear." Jeff commented to Sasha, a bit too loudly.
"What did you say, dad? What did you say mom?" Karen stared at them, a pondering look in her eyes.
"Nothing dear. We were just talking about the bills, not a biggie." Sasha shot Jeff a glare and gave him a little slap to complete her message.
Cliff was sitting on a wooden stool, organizing the seeds and part of the kitchen corner. "Hey Karen, I just thought I should do a little something for your kindness. It's the least I could do..." He smiled sheepishly, and Karen knew some red had hinted it's way onto her cheeks.
"Thank you, young man. That was very kind of you. My husband should hire you. He could use the help; I mean you could make sure nobody pays on tab and organize the items. So what do you say err......ummmm.........?" Sasha gave him a half smile, half frown, and gave him a quizzical look.
"Cliff, please call me Cliff. I don't know, I'm not that good at it..." Cliff fidgeted and almost slipped off the wooden stool, but re-gained his balance.
"Oh nonsense, I'm sure you'll be great at it. We can start you at 15G an hour. Then as your skills improve we can pay you more." Sasha was interrupted by Karen.
"Mom, you don't need skills to work at a Supermarket. It's a really easy job." Karen explained to her mom who just huffed.
"We can start you today. Karen will show you the basics and work with you for a while." Sasha was sliding Cliff to the back room.
"Mom, I can handle it from here. I'm fine" Karen went towards the back room.
"I really don't know Karen, as you said working at a Supermarket really isn't all that hard." Sasha shifted her position so that she was now dragging Cliff as apposed to pushing him.
"Honey, let Karen show Cliff, she is the one who found him and sort of rescued him. Remember. Just relax." Jeff coaxed his wife.
"Fine, fine, I'm going to go visit Barley and May. I said I would later today, but I guess early is better than never." Sasha went towards the door.
"Ummmmm......... Mom, the saying is, better late than never or better later than never. So, I'll just go show Cliff the ropes." Karen rolled her eyes, "Come on Cliff, hurry up, you're going too slow." She also started pushing.
"Whoa, careful, don't push me over, no more falling for me, no sir-e- e-e-e-e! So what's the low down on this here job? Anything special I need to know about this here town, any festivals?" Cliff was twiddling his thumbs.
"Well......... first of all... you sound like an idiot." Karen cheerily replied.
"Thanks......... just looked like an old town." Cliff gave her a huge grin.
"Why does everybody think this town is in olden time? Well.........anyway......... in seven days, there is the goddess festival. At this festival, the five girls, Elli, Ann, Popuri, Mary, and me wear special costumes and dance to bring the year in with luck. The day before the festival a guy asks the girl he likes most to be escorted by him to the goddess festival. It's one of my favorite festivals" Karen went off into a fake dreamy state.
Really, is it that fun? Well, it must be, but is it really one of your favorite festivals?" Cliff gave her a quizzical look.
"Of course, coughbullshitcough........." Karen laughed dryly, then coughed obnoxiously.
"I wonder who I'll take to this goddess festival with me, maybe Karen, Elli, Mary, Ann, or Popuri. Well, back on the subject, right?" Cliff was biting his lower lip and Karen was biting her nails.
"Well Cliff, here's a nametag. Do you have a place to stay?" Karen hoped he didn't.
"Afraid not, but I can stay at the inn, I mean I'm making money and everything." Cliff started to feel in his pocket.
"You don't......... well, we have a guest room you can stay in while you work for us, even on weekends." Karen teased," It's the door on the left, just be careful, that door has a tendency to get stuck, then swing open when you least expect it." A friend got a bloody nose and a black eye, all in one day." Karen pointed to the room and snickered.
"Okay, works for me, what are my hours? Oh, and by the way, thanks." Cliff shrugged and smiled.
"Well, your hours are, eight to seven, of course over time they may lessen or become more, it's not too hard, but you have to make sure no one pays on tab. If they do either yell at them or threaten them, and if worse comes to worse, get me. You get to clean up spills and bag things for people. Eventually you'll know everybody well enough that you can talk to them while you work or bag, sometimes they give tips.........if you're extremely polite and do exactly what they say. Sometimes they'll give you a 10G tip and sometimes, just sometimes, they'll give you a 300G tip. Depends how good you are. Well......... that's about it for your job. So you can begin now." Karen started to push Cliff towards the door to start working.
"Mom, Dad! Come here and hurry! We have a slight problem." Karen hollered so that it reached all corners of the house.
"Coming honey, hold on a second." Sasha, Karen's mom answered.
She walked briskly, her blue dress swaying a slight bit with every step she took.
"Hold on dear I'm in the potty poo, I mean the bathroom." Her father answered back.
flushhhhhhhhhhhhh, clug, clug, clug, clug
"Sasha, honey, where's the plunger? I also have a slight problem." Jeff meekly called out to her.
"Jeff, honey, there's no time for that now. Karen needs us." Sasha called back with a slight bit of irritation.
Jeff walked down the stairs, whistling as he did so, receiving two glares, "Well, what is it Karen?"
"I found a boy about my age collapsed on the doorstep, with his bird. He seemed really hungry.........and cold.........and tired" Karen sighed. (She's laying it on pretty thick isn't she)
'Well did you leave him out there? Is he okay?" Sasha's mothering instinct hit her head on.
"Yeah mom, he's fine I hope. I mean he cold have come down with pneumonia or something. Maybe even asthma. I brought him into the store like a good neighbor should. I didn't want to bring his bird inside. You know, in case it's got rabies or fleas or something." Sasha's green eyes softened.(I know, I know, bird don't get rabies. Not sure if they get fleas though.........)
"Well, let's go get him. Come along Karen, come along Jeff." They walked out of the backroom with Sasha leading the way.
"Mom, please stop treating me like a baby, I'm nineteen you know. I'm not your little pumpkin pie anymore." Karen pouted and crossed her arms.
"You sure act like one still though." Her mother muttered under her breath.
"You got that right dear." Jeff commented to Sasha, a bit too loudly.
"What did you say, dad? What did you say mom?" Karen stared at them, a pondering look in her eyes.
"Nothing dear. We were just talking about the bills, not a biggie." Sasha shot Jeff a glare and gave him a little slap to complete her message.
Cliff was sitting on a wooden stool, organizing the seeds and part of the kitchen corner. "Hey Karen, I just thought I should do a little something for your kindness. It's the least I could do..." He smiled sheepishly, and Karen knew some red had hinted it's way onto her cheeks.
"Thank you, young man. That was very kind of you. My husband should hire you. He could use the help; I mean you could make sure nobody pays on tab and organize the items. So what do you say err......ummmm.........?" Sasha gave him a half smile, half frown, and gave him a quizzical look.
"Cliff, please call me Cliff. I don't know, I'm not that good at it..." Cliff fidgeted and almost slipped off the wooden stool, but re-gained his balance.
"Oh nonsense, I'm sure you'll be great at it. We can start you at 15G an hour. Then as your skills improve we can pay you more." Sasha was interrupted by Karen.
"Mom, you don't need skills to work at a Supermarket. It's a really easy job." Karen explained to her mom who just huffed.
"We can start you today. Karen will show you the basics and work with you for a while." Sasha was sliding Cliff to the back room.
"Mom, I can handle it from here. I'm fine" Karen went towards the back room.
"I really don't know Karen, as you said working at a Supermarket really isn't all that hard." Sasha shifted her position so that she was now dragging Cliff as apposed to pushing him.
"Honey, let Karen show Cliff, she is the one who found him and sort of rescued him. Remember. Just relax." Jeff coaxed his wife.
"Fine, fine, I'm going to go visit Barley and May. I said I would later today, but I guess early is better than never." Sasha went towards the door.
"Ummmmm......... Mom, the saying is, better late than never or better later than never. So, I'll just go show Cliff the ropes." Karen rolled her eyes, "Come on Cliff, hurry up, you're going too slow." She also started pushing.
"Whoa, careful, don't push me over, no more falling for me, no sir-e- e-e-e-e! So what's the low down on this here job? Anything special I need to know about this here town, any festivals?" Cliff was twiddling his thumbs.
"Well......... first of all... you sound like an idiot." Karen cheerily replied.
"Thanks......... just looked like an old town." Cliff gave her a huge grin.
"Why does everybody think this town is in olden time? Well.........anyway......... in seven days, there is the goddess festival. At this festival, the five girls, Elli, Ann, Popuri, Mary, and me wear special costumes and dance to bring the year in with luck. The day before the festival a guy asks the girl he likes most to be escorted by him to the goddess festival. It's one of my favorite festivals" Karen went off into a fake dreamy state.
Really, is it that fun? Well, it must be, but is it really one of your favorite festivals?" Cliff gave her a quizzical look.
"Of course, coughbullshitcough........." Karen laughed dryly, then coughed obnoxiously.
"I wonder who I'll take to this goddess festival with me, maybe Karen, Elli, Mary, Ann, or Popuri. Well, back on the subject, right?" Cliff was biting his lower lip and Karen was biting her nails.
"Well Cliff, here's a nametag. Do you have a place to stay?" Karen hoped he didn't.
"Afraid not, but I can stay at the inn, I mean I'm making money and everything." Cliff started to feel in his pocket.
"You don't......... well, we have a guest room you can stay in while you work for us, even on weekends." Karen teased," It's the door on the left, just be careful, that door has a tendency to get stuck, then swing open when you least expect it." A friend got a bloody nose and a black eye, all in one day." Karen pointed to the room and snickered.
"Okay, works for me, what are my hours? Oh, and by the way, thanks." Cliff shrugged and smiled.
"Well, your hours are, eight to seven, of course over time they may lessen or become more, it's not too hard, but you have to make sure no one pays on tab. If they do either yell at them or threaten them, and if worse comes to worse, get me. You get to clean up spills and bag things for people. Eventually you'll know everybody well enough that you can talk to them while you work or bag, sometimes they give tips.........if you're extremely polite and do exactly what they say. Sometimes they'll give you a 10G tip and sometimes, just sometimes, they'll give you a 300G tip. Depends how good you are. Well......... that's about it for your job. So you can begin now." Karen started to push Cliff towards the door to start working.