Marvel Johnson pushed the door to enter Kerls’ Gas Station and Mini-mart and witnessed a bevy of activity inside the store. To her surprise, Samantha was behind the counter with a coffee cup in front of her.
“Sam!” Marvel screamed and raised her arms at the same time. Sam screamed in response, hurried from around the counter and the two women embraced in a healthy hug. After the two finished rocking each other, they walked arm in arm back to the counter.
“So how is it going in here?” Marvel asked her friend as she turned to watch Mike and Abe at the far end of the store.
“Well, you can see everything is a mess. Those endcaps have not been moved in decades, if ever. They have removed them from three aisles but have two to go. I am struggling trying to figure out how to condense the space left to accommodate all the product lines we offer,” Sam explained.
“Can I help you?” Marvel offered.
“Sure, that would be great. Come around here and take a look at my sketches.”
Mike was on the floor in front of the fourth aisle to be deconstructed. He placed a crowbar at the base of the endcap and started to jam the tool beneath it. Abe returned at that moment, reached over Mike, and pushed up on the structure. Through their combined efforts, the endcap creaked upward finally releasing its grip from the tile floor.
“That was easier,” Mike said to Abe. “It only took us four times to learn how to do this, but we finally figured it out.”
“One to go,” Abe responded. “Let me put this one with the others.” He grabbed the endcap with both hands and lifted it away from Mike.
Mike crawled to the last and final endcap, straddled it, and began to push the crowbar beneath it. Abe returned and, together, they removed the last piece. Mike stood and followed Abe into the back room. He watched Abe place the end cap next to the others and turn to face him.
“I hope that’s the last hard thing we have to do,” Abe sighed.
“Probably not,” Mike laughed. “What is next anyway?”
“I guess we need to clean the floor where these came from,” Abe leaned against a sink in the corner. “Or remove the next sections of each row in order to put these back.”
“I think we should do that first and then we clean the floors before we put the end caps back,” Mike offered.
Abe nodded before he spoke, “I hope this is worth it, Mike.”
Mike looked at his friend and nodded. “It will be. Let’s take a break. I will go talk to Mom about clearing those shelves.”
He left Abe and returned to the front of the store. He stopped at the coffee stand and poured himself a cup of it. Sipping from the Styrofoam cup, he headed toward the counter. No one was there. He turned to lean back on the counter and looked out the window. His Mom was with Marvel just past the doorway. She had her arms crossed and her hair was blowing in the wind. She looked cold. Marvel laughed at something Samantha had said to her and she laughed along with her friend. Mike took another sip from his cup and drew his attention to the corner of the lot to the woman swinging her bell and singing. Her hair was blowing in the same wind and the hood from her bright yellow jacket was down around her neck. Mike wondered who she really was. How did she know so much?
The car with the teenagers arrived at the same time but instead of driving by, it turned into the store lot, and stopped next to her. Mike put the cup on the counter and started toward the front door. The car doors opened, and three guys and two girls emerged from inside it. As Mike opened the door to walk out, his Mom and Marvel had turned to watch the assembly on the corner. The five teenagers had surrounded Kristy and they could hear them talking to her. Kristy laughed and the young adults laughed with her. As if on cue, they spread out behind her. Mike could see Kristy through the gaps between the five people and saw she was smiling. She nodded and turned toward the street. He could see her head nod and her bell beginning to keep a beat and the ensemble began to sing, “Jingle bells, jingle bells…” The sound of the acapella choir now replaced a solo voice and it blended, rose, and spread out into the sky. It was a wonderful new sound. Who knew these kids could sing. Abe joined the three astonished people standing outside the door of the Mini-mart who were looking back and forth at each other. Marvel was jumping up and down, Samantha had her hands over her mouth giggling and Mike simply smiled. He noticed the door to the bakery open and a few people walked out, including Lou. Aaron, the barber of the Barber Shop emerged from inside his place, too. All of their attention is on the choir on the corner of his parking lot. As the last refrain ended, the sweet sound of their song was replaced by applause from the audience surrounding them. The teenagers laughed, jumped up and down and hugged each other. Kristy eagerly joined them.
Aaron started to chant from across the street, “More, more, more.”
The cluster at the bakery joined him, “More, more, more.”
Clapping now, Mike, Samantha, Abe, and Marvel joined the new song, “More, more, more.”
The choir huddled together for a few moments and then spread out again as they had before and this time they started to sing, “O come all ye faithful…” The audience began to applaud and scream with delight in response and they finally quieted to hear the concert. This time, people who were inside City Hall came outside. A few people who heard the screams from the grocery store stopped next to Aaron to listen to the tune. As that tune ended, another round of cheers rose up from the impromptu audience. The choir again jumped up and down with Kristy. This time, when they separated, the kids returned to the car and eventually the car squealed out of the drive and back onto the road, wildly blowing the car horn. As it zoomed into the distance, Kristy watched the car for a moment then resumed ringing her bell and started to sing what was becoming her theme song, “Joy to the world…” The people that were outside listening, returned to the inside of wherever they came, and Mike continued to look at Kristy as his group reentered the store. He pondered something that was on his mind and approached the bell ringer.
“Hi,” he said as he stopped next to her.
She paused her singing but kept ringing the bell. “Oh, hi!”
“That was awesome,” he told her.
“It was, wasn’t it? And guess what?” she giggled to him.
“What?” Mike played along.
“They will be back,” she squealed. “Isn’t that good news!”
“It is,” Mike answered her. “Kristy, just who are you?”
She smiled and stepped forward and asked him, “Who do you think I am?”
He paused and looked at her. They stood in silence for a few moments before she spoke again. “Be patient. All will be clear soon.”
A blue car turned into the drive and paused next to them. The pastor was reaching across and rolling down the window. “How’s it going?”
“You missed the concert, Paul,” Mike told him and left Kristy to approach the car.
“We had a choir today,” Kristy added, still ringing her bell.
“Really? I am sorry I missed it,” Paul said sounding disappointed. “Let me park the car.” He rolled the window up and pulled forward to a space in front of the store door.
Mike looked at Kristy who just stood there smiling at him. He smiled back, shook his head, and strolled toward the store. Paul was waiting for him beside his car.
“I just came by to see how it’s going,” Paul stated as Mike joined him.
“Well, let’s go inside and take a look,” Mike replied as he nodded his head toward the door.
Upon entering the building, they came upon a cluster of people huddled around the counter. The two men walked up unnoticed and they looked at each other and smiled.
“Ahhhhh!” Mike screamed and the crew in front of him jumped at the sound. Paul started laughing so hard that it seemed to keep going on forever.
“Michael!” Samantha scolded her son. “That, was not funny.”
“It was, Mom. It really was,” Mike replied as Abe playfully punched his arm. Marvel was shaking her head at him, but she was smiling. Beside her, the pastor’s laughter turned into coughing and Mike bent toward him.
“Are you all right, Pastor?” he asked him and placed a hand on the bent over shoulder. In response, Paul raised a hand in the air.
“Let me catch my breath,” he finally sputtered as he raised himself up and placed his hands on his hips. “Whew, ah, that’s better. Oh boy, that was funny. I have not laughed like that in a very, long time. Thanks, Mike.”
“Thanks Mike? That was mean,” Samantha stated looking back at her son.
“Maybe,” Paul said to her. “But it sure was funny. So, how’s it going?”
The group re-huddled at the counter to surround the store map Samantha had drawn for the occasion. Abe was positioned on the far side of the group and he just happened to glance up and look out the window. Kristy was in her spot on the corner, but she was talking to someone.
“Hey, who’s that?”
The group looked up and looked out the window. Robert Fuller was standing next to Kristy and they were talking. For once her bell was silent as white puffs of smoke rose up as they spoke to one another. She stepped closer to him and reached out and placed her hand on his arm. He bent closer to her and gestured at himself as he spoke.
A light green car turned into the driveway and paused at the corner. They could see Father Dooley stretch across and roll down the passenger window of his car. Kristy stepped forward and bent down to talk through the window. Robert Fuller stood there watching the exchange of conversation in front of him. Kristy stood up and looked up at Robert. She was smiling and Robert bent down to look into the car. Puffs of smoke emitted from him and they could see the priest nod inside. Robert said something else then stood up and tapped the top of the car. Kristy bent down again and waved. The priest rolled the car window up and drove up to the store. Robert and Kristy returned to talking to each other.
James entered the store to see five sets of eyes staring at him.
“Hello?” he said to the group.
“Okay,” Samantha spoke first. “What was that all about?”
The priest was at the counter removing his gloves and sighed.
“Kristy smiled and said hello and asked me if I knew Robert Fuller. I said yes.”
“No, it was more than that,” Marvel noted for the witnesses.
“Well, I wasn’t finished,” he continued. “I said yes that he is a member of my congregation. She seemed pleased and asked me if he was a regular attendee and I said, no. She then asked me if I asked him why not? I said no to that. Then she said, why not ask him now. So I did.”
“Really?” Paul asked him. “What did he say?”
“That was interesting. He first said hello and asked how I have been. I said fine and then I asked how he was doing, and I asked him. He said maybe.”
“Maybe? What does that mean?” Abe asked disappointed.
“I don’t know,” James replied. “I just don’t know.”
Silence filled the room and hung there for a few seconds as the group looked at each other. Abe finally shrugged and the moment concluded.
“We were about to review the floor plan,” Paul told his friend as he leaned back on the counter.
“We are shortening the aisles to free up space opposite the counter. We are going to put up some shelving units on that wall over there,” Sam pointed to the far wall. “We have to figure out how we want the rest of the space organized.”
“What about a staging area?”
“We have to do it on the dock because we cannot move the refrigerator units,” Abe answered.
“I was going to the hardware store to get some lumber to build stalls back there,” Mike reported.
“It sounds lie we are well on our way,” Father Dooley remarked. “Will we get it done on time to meet our plan?”
“There’s still is an awful lot to do,” Samantha sighed.
“Don’t worry,” Marvel said to her friend. “It will all work out.”
“Hey, look outside,” Mike told the group. All eyes turned toward the front window.
On the corner, Robert Fuller was still talking to Kristy when she turned and placed her bell into the black kettle. She walked back to Robert and placed her arm through his and they strolled across the street. When they walked in front of the bakery, the door opened, and Lou emerged. She watched the couple continue toward the Candle Factory and then walked across the street.
The blue car returned and drove onto the lot followed by a second car. The two cars drove next to the store out of sight. Lou was walking toward the door when she was joined by several young adults who strolled from the side of the building. Lou said something to the group, and someone replied, and they all laughed. They came into the store giggling and chattering to each other. They filtered across the doorway and window front as Lou stepped through them.
“So how’s it going?” she asked as she stopped at the counter.
“Okay,” Mike replied as he kept his eyes on the crowd at the door. “You?”
“Just fine,” Lou replied. “Why don’t you ask them what’s up, Mike?”
“Okay,” Mike said and stepped around the counter. One of the boys stepped forward, obviously representing the teens. Mike recognized him as the one who had leaned out the window to yell at Kristy. “So, what’s up?”
Before he received a response, the bell over the door jingled again. The door opened and Richard Dell entered, followed by a young woman who stood beside him.
“What’s going on?” Richard asked as he looked over the crowd in the store.
“Kristy told us what you are up to and you needed some helping hands,” the young man answered Richard’s question. “My name is Eric and here we are. How can we help?”
To be continued…
My First Stories 