Bentley Little - The Store

She nodded, started to close the door and turn away, then swiveled back to face him. "Can I take the car?"

"Your mom has the Jeep and Sam took the Toyota. But if you can find a third car in the garage, you're welcome to it."

"I forgot," she said sheepishly.

"Have a nice walk, and don't forget to close the door behind you."

She closed his office door, heading down the hallway to the kitchen, where she pulled a Dr Pepper out of the refrigerator. She considered scrapping the whole idea. Or at least waiting for another day. It was hot as blazes out there, and she'd be drenched with sweat by the time she walked all the way into town.

The chance of anyone hiring a sweaty, smelly seventeen-year-old for any position was pretty slim.

But an endless afternoon stretched before her, and she'd already had enough of those the past few weeks to last her a lifetime. She needed to get out of the house, find something to do. Besides, no one was going to want to interview her today. She'd just pick up applications this afternoon, bring them home and fill them out, then return them tomorrow.

And she already knew where she really planned to apply.

The Store.

Any other place in town probably would give her an instant interview, a quick yes or no. The Store was the only employer big enough to be impersonal, and despite the promise she'd given her dad, it was the only place she wanted to work.

She knew her parents didn't like The Store for some reason, but she wasn't exactly sure why. Some of the rules for employees seemed to be weird -- like that dating prohibition (wasn't it usually the other way around?) -- and it still made her feel uncomfortable when she thought of the Store guards at the Grad Night party overseeing the rest of them as though they were cattle -- and Mindy -- but there didn't really seem to be anything about the place that would generate the sort of bizarre hatred her parents, and especially her dad, seemed to feel.

It was probably a political thing.

Her parents were big on that stuff.

She went into her bedroom and grabbed her purse, just in case she needed ID. "I'm going!" she called out.

"Good luck!" her dad yelled.

She let the screen door slam behind her and walked down the long drive to the road, where two of Mr. Sutton's horses were watching her forlornly from behind their fenced barricade. She ran across the dirt road, jumped the ditch, and gave them each a quick hug, murmuring reassuringly. If she'd seen them from the porch, she would've gotten some sugar cubes from the kitchen for them, but she didn't want to turn back now, and she patted each of the horses, promising to bring them a treat next time. The animals were hot, too, miserable in this windless weather and trying to stay in the shade. It was edging into the warmest part of the day, and though the horses obviously wanted company, she had to get going, and she gave them each a quick good-bye hug and jumped back over the ditch onto the road, heading toward town.

By the time she reached The Store, it looked like she'd been running a marathon. Her blouse and shorts were sticking to her skin, her hair hung in wet clumps about her face. She couldn't ask for an application looking like this, so she bought a can of cold Coke from the newly installed machine next to the door and sat outside on the bench next to the building, staring out at the parking lot while she tried to cool off.

She looked around. This was the spot where Mindy had crashed into the wall, and though she hadn't thought of it in several weeks, she suddenly saw in her mind the stem of the car's steering wheel bloodily embedded in Mindy's face.

_It's built with blood_.

She took a deep breath, feeling a slight chill pass through her. Maybe her parents' feelings weren't quite so unfounded.

But then she looked out into the parking lot and saw a mother happily pushing a shopping cart toward the front entrance, a little boy singing loudly from his cart seat.

There was nothing weird here. This was a normal discount retail store.

There'd been some bad luck, maybe, some negative coincidences, but that sort of thing happened everywhere, all the time.

The woman passed by her bench, and the little boy waved at Shannon. "Hi!" he said.

She smiled at him. "Hi."

A few minutes later, she was sufficiently cooled off, no longer sweating, and she walked into The Store, feeling a welcome burst of air-conditioning as she stepped through the doors into the building. A smiling director asked if she needed some assistance, she told him she wanted to get a job application, and he directed her to the Customer Service desk. The woman behind the counter, who Shannon remembered from Buy-and-Save, gave her an application and a pen and told her to move down to the end of the counter and fill in the requested information.

"We don't have many openings left," she said, "but you're in luck. There's a clerk position available in the Garden department."

"I'll take it," Shannon said.

The woman smiled. "Fill out the application, and we'll see."

Shannon did so, turned it in, then walked through The Store looking for Sam. She found her sister behind the register in the Housewares department, conspicuously yawning while an elderly woman lectured her for not being helpful.

Shannon pretended to look at dishes and silverware until the woman finally left, disgusted.

Samantha smiled. "We get all kinds." She looked down the aisle behind Shannon. "Mom and Dad here, too?"

Shannon shook her head. "Just me."

"To what do I owe the honor?"

"I'm applying for job here."

Sam's expression darkened.

"I thought you could help me," Shannon said quickly.

"You don't want to work here," Sam said.

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Look, I was just asking you to put in a good word for me. But if that's too difficult for you, forget it. God, I didn't think you were going to turn it into a whole big thing."

"I'll tell Dad."

Shannon stared at her sister. "Thanks. Thanks a lot."

"I don't think you --"

"I already turned in the application. If you won't help me, fine. But I'm going to get a job here."

"You already turned it in?"

"Yeah."

Sam took a deep breath, and a look of -- what? fear? -- passed over her face. "Okay, I'll take care of it," she said.

"Take care of what?"

"There are tests and things you're supposed to go through before you get hired, but I'll see if I can get you out of it. I . . . think I can."

Shannon nodded. "Thanks," she said grudgingly.

Sam looked sick, almost physically ill. "Go home," she said. "They shouldn't see us together."

"Why?"

"Just go. I'll . . . talk to some people, and I'll tell you what happens tonight." She smiled, but her smile was forced, closer to a grimace, and once again, Shannon thought of Mindy.

_It's built with blood_.

She looked at her sister. "Thanks," she said again.

Sam nodded.

Shannon walked back through The Store toward the entrance, feeling uneasy but not knowing why.

Her mom was already home by the time she arrived back at the house. She was sorting through a pile of papers and mimeograph sheets on the coffee table in the living room, but she looked up as Shannon walked in. "Your father said you were out job-hunting."

"Yeah."

"Where did you apply?" her mom asked.

"Where didn't I apply?" she lied.

"Any luck?"

Shannon shrugged. "I don't know. There don't seem to be too many places looking for help right now."

"Summer school starts on Monday. I could use an aide."

Shannon snorted derisively.

"Ten bucks a week. And it'll look good on your resume for college."

"We'll see. If I don't get a job, maybe I'll do it."

Samantha arrived home late. She walked directly into her sister's room and shut the door behind her. "You're hired," she said. "Report tomorrow. Ten o'clock. Mr. Lamb."