002. Slow - December/January - Rambles & Snippets - Fiction[NET]
There was hardly any sleep snatched that night, Makina and Tararyn ran on adrenaline alone, excited for their first full day in the country and more importantly, their first day as shop owners.
Their shop was an oddball of many things - international papers, those certain brands of things supermarkets suddenly removed from their shelves when they were your favourite, all those tiny odds and ends such as wall hooks and door stoppers you could never seem to find until you actually needed them… that sort of thing.
They enticed people into their store by offering free tastings of vegemite (something Australians put on their bread) lamingtons (a desert of sponge coated in chocolate and coconut) and Spiders (a drink usually of coke and vanilla ice cream) for their first week of business and people poured in, more than they knew how to deal with.
People were surprisingly understanding though, the tight-knit community quickly spread the word of how the two young Australian’s had escaped from such a rough time and most were more than happy to pack their own shopping bags while the girls rushed to ring things up on the till and restock the emptying shelves.
“Try to remember this spell.” A very helpful witch advised, gently shuffling Makina away from the box she was emptying. With a wave of her wand, items soared from the box to line up neatly in only seconds, leaving Makina staring in surprise.
“If you have any questions, I own the pub down the road.” The witch smiled nicely and then left, the store was too full to linger. To their surprise business that day didn’t go any slower and as evening set it, only seemed to go faster and busier. The girls eventually shut up shop just after 10pm, and only just managed to get through the back door before they collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Jetlagged and tired from lack of sleep the night before, and neither had been able to have much of a lunch break…
“And tomorrow will be busier, as word spreads around…” Tararyn sighed, almost sounding regretful. “There’s something called… a auto-stocking spell though? If we set up the boxes behind the shelves, somehow…”
“Or above them. We can do a summoning spell so when stock gets low; it’s added to the back from above. “
“We can get another set of shelves and organise them upstairs, so it’s exact… it’ll work better then…”
The murmurs got lower and lower until they both fell into a doze, too tired to think of eating although they were so hungry, or at least moving to their beds even though they were uncomfortable. They dozed until midnight, where they managed to get up and shuffle upstairs to their beds, where they collapsed yet again, fully clothed and without a single idea as to how they were going to get up the next morning in time to open.
Despite it all, they were happy, content, and for once, finally felt safe.
Their shop was an oddball of many things - international papers, those certain brands of things supermarkets suddenly removed from their shelves when they were your favourite, all those tiny odds and ends such as wall hooks and door stoppers you could never seem to find until you actually needed them… that sort of thing.
They enticed people into their store by offering free tastings of vegemite (something Australians put on their bread) lamingtons (a desert of sponge coated in chocolate and coconut) and Spiders (a drink usually of coke and vanilla ice cream) for their first week of business and people poured in, more than they knew how to deal with.
People were surprisingly understanding though, the tight-knit community quickly spread the word of how the two young Australian’s had escaped from such a rough time and most were more than happy to pack their own shopping bags while the girls rushed to ring things up on the till and restock the emptying shelves.
“Try to remember this spell.” A very helpful witch advised, gently shuffling Makina away from the box she was emptying. With a wave of her wand, items soared from the box to line up neatly in only seconds, leaving Makina staring in surprise.
“If you have any questions, I own the pub down the road.” The witch smiled nicely and then left, the store was too full to linger. To their surprise business that day didn’t go any slower and as evening set it, only seemed to go faster and busier. The girls eventually shut up shop just after 10pm, and only just managed to get through the back door before they collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Jetlagged and tired from lack of sleep the night before, and neither had been able to have much of a lunch break…
“And tomorrow will be busier, as word spreads around…” Tararyn sighed, almost sounding regretful. “There’s something called… a auto-stocking spell though? If we set up the boxes behind the shelves, somehow…”
“Or above them. We can do a summoning spell so when stock gets low; it’s added to the back from above. “
“We can get another set of shelves and organise them upstairs, so it’s exact… it’ll work better then…”
The murmurs got lower and lower until they both fell into a doze, too tired to think of eating although they were so hungry, or at least moving to their beds even though they were uncomfortable. They dozed until midnight, where they managed to get up and shuffle upstairs to their beds, where they collapsed yet again, fully clothed and without a single idea as to how they were going to get up the next morning in time to open.
Despite it all, they were happy, content, and for once, finally felt safe.