A special thanks to my family and friends who came out to support me and the BHS theatre department.
I'll talk about pink slips another time. For now let's just celebrate the good!
Now I have to run to the Wine Palace for an extra shift! Yay Money, boo to no laundry getting done :(
In honor of my favoritest little job ever here's a new segment from Cedar Falls! YAY!
It is not done, ut, well, what is? It is a vignette I suppose, and maybe the next part, where I left off, will pick up from someone else'd perspective anyway so lets call it done enough.
I'm super excited to introduce a new character!
enjoy!
Nolan Delaney was wheeling an emptied dolly out of the walk-in freezer when he heard the familiar electronic tone from the door at the front of the store. He hustled to wheel the dolly into place out back and called “Good Morning!” out to the little shop, just to let the customer know he’d be right out.
He always worked Monday mornings. As owner it was really not necessary, but he liked to check in, liked the peace and quiet, liked re-organizing and taking stock and existing in the store he’d built from the ground up. He had plenty of weekend help and a few ladies who came in to cover most shifts through the week, but Mondays were his day at the helm.
The customer was a quiet one—they made no reply to his called-out greeting.
He strolled out of the back with a smile on his face. He enjoyed customers. He was a people person. “Beautiful day, huh?” He began jovially before he saw who was standing at the register, or rather who was slumped at the register, face in hands.
His brother looked awful.
“Hey Jonesy, what’s up?” Jonah Delaney should have been at work. “Everything OK?”
Nolan strolled over to the counter, casual, but inside he was bracing himself. His older brother was generally calm and even-keel. If Jonah was not at work, looking like hell, and standing in Delaney Wine & Spirits at – Nolan checked the clock—11:24 am on a Monday, something was very wrong. He knew that anything short of disaster would have warranted a phone call or a stop-by-after-work.
His initial reaction was: there’d been a death. Their parents had passed on years ago, so that left spouses and children. Nolan didn’t handle death well. He steeled himself.
Jonah was grinding his palms into his eyes, his glasses on the counter. “I need you to give Viola a job.” He said finally, now pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut.
Nolan blinked. What the Christ? He’d believed someone to have suffered in some horrendous car accident or something. All this drama for an after-school job for his niece?
He leaned an elbow on the high counter and kicked one leg in front of the other, the picture of casual. “What’s going on? She in some kind of trouble?” That kid was always in some kind of trouble. Truth be told he wasn’t perfectly comfortable with hiring the girl, though he loved his niece, not with her track record.
Jonah sighed, a heavy, world-weary thing. He picked up his glasses and fixed them back on his face. He looked far-away and tired. “Please—“
Whoa. What in hell was going on?
“Of course, of course.” Nolan responded with more confidence than he felt. “She can work after-school?” Jonah nodded, Nolan watched relief melting over his entire body. “Weekends too, or…?”
Nolan stopped. Jonah had sort-of collapsed. He was suddenly sitting on the floor of Delaney Liquors, back against the sales counter, conscious but very pale.
“Jonah, what the Christ is going on?” Nolan demanded, leaning over and pushing his brother’s forehead back so he could examine his eyes. They were glazed but Jonah didn’t appear to be on drugs or drunk. “Are you sick?”
His brother laughed in response. He nodded and then began to weep.
Holy Shit.
“C’mon, get up.” Nolan said in a stern voice.
“Just, as many hours as you can give her, I just need her out of the house, I just need you to do this for me, just keep an eye on her, please? Just-“ Jonah was babbling, his words rushing over one another, peppered with sobs.
“”Allright, c’mon. Get up, I need you to stand up.” Nolan Delaney thought, for a half a moment, that he might have preferred getting news of someone’s death to having to see his brother like this. He admonished himself for thinking it and worked at pulling his brother off the sales floor.
The electronic ding-dong of the door tone sounded and Nolan cursed quietly. He turned to greet the customer.
“Good morning! I’ll be right with you.” He flashed a winning smile at old Mrs. Eisen and turned back to his brother who was still weeping and babbling and now half-standing.
“Is everything allright?” He heard Mrs. Eisen inquire. The lady was meddlesome on a good day, on a placid day where nothing out of the ordinary was going on. With this juicy scene Nolan was sure she’d have fodder for gossip and rumor for a month or more. Dammit.
“Get a hold of yourself Jonesy!” Nolan urged in a low whisper before turning over his shoulder again with a pleasant expression. “Oh, my brother isn’t feeling well Mrs. Eisen, I’m just going to get him to the back and I’ll be right with you.” He turned back to Jonah with the smile still plastered to his face. “Let’s go Jones!” he said in a sing-song voice for Mrs. Eisen’s benefit.
“Is it the flu?” she asked stepping a little closer to peer at the wobbly-legged Delaney “There’s a terrible strain of flu going around—“
“I think so, better not get too close!” Nolan steered his brother toward the back, eager to get him away from the keen eyes and ears of that old busy-body. Nolan couldn’t make out a lot of what Jonah was saying but “Viola” and “She” and all sorts of curse words were enough to set his ears blazing in embarrassment. Had Mrs. Eisen heard Jonah say ‘Pussy’ just then? He sincerely hoped not. And what the fuck was Jonah using that word for anyhow?
When he managed to deposit Jonah on the swivel chair in the manager’s office and close the door he took a breath and slapped his brother, hard, across the face.
It had the desired result. Jonah stopped his nonsense immediately and seemed to come back into focus. He put his hand up to the right side of his face and rubbed his jaw and cheekbone.
Nolan held his breath and tensed his body for retaliation.
When a long moment had passed with no answering assault Nolan let down his guard slightly. “Jonah, what the fuck?”
Jonah continued to massage his now bright red cheek. But he couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes. “What was I saying?” he asked, a note of panic creeping into his voice.
Nolan raised his eyebrows. Jesus. “I think I’d better call Velvet.” He said. This was too much. “And maybe Dr. Bennett” he added, and walked toward the desk phone.
“What did I say?!” Jonah put a viselike hand on Nolan’s arm before it could reach for the receiver.
It hurt. A lot. For a man who’d just collapsed into a puddle not five minutes ago he sure had a lot of strength.
“Jesus Jonah, I don’t fucking know!” He pulled his arm out of that iron grip and took a few steps back.
From the otherside of the office door he heard the electronic tone sound and he could kick something.
“I need to get out there, I’m the only one on.” He turned to go, taking a final appraising look at his brother. He would text Velvet as soon as he was out of Jonah’s sight. This was insane.
“What’d I say about Viola?” His brother demanded, standing up and swiftly moving to block the exit.
“You asked me to give her a job.” Nolan responded, non-plussed. “I said I would.”
Jonah looked at the floor. “I didn’t—did I—what did I—but—“
“Everything else was gibberish.” Nolan told him impatiently. “Now just sit down, take a minute, and I’ll be right back” He pushed past his brother and stepped out of the office, closing the door securely behind him.
He wasn’t sure which scenario would greet him; had the electronic tone meant Mrs. Eisen had decided to leave and come back another time, or had it meant another customer had come in and had been left alone with whatever Mrs. Eisen had decided to chat about? With one hand he pulled out his cell and began a text message, while he quickly scanned the small store to assess the situation. He saw Mrs. Eisen’s head bent in fervent conversation with Mr. Sterling from the rotary club and he felt a leaden weight in his gut. There was no way this wouldn’t get out.
He finished a quick and urgent text to Velvet and slipped his phone out of sight before strolling over to the two gossips.
“Good morning Mr. Sterling!” Nolan greeted him warmly. “How was the Rotary Club Dinner Saturday?”
The old man looked vague for a moment, distracted by whatever Ethel Eisen had been filling his hairy old ear with. Damn. Then a look of recognition crossed the old hound’s face and he hitched a polite smile on his face.
“Oh very nice thank you.” He replied a little too kindly.
Nolan’s pocket vibrated.
“Who were the scholarship winners this year?” He kept his voice completely unruffled.
Sterling thought for a moment. “Well now let’s see…” good. It was best to keep his brain muddied with unnecessary functions. While he was trying to fish out the names of the scholarship winners Nolan turned his attention to Mrs. Eisen.
“Anything besides the Manachevitz today Mrs. Eisen?” She shook her head and waited mutely for Sterling to finish his drawn-out recall.
“Are you sure?” Nolan pressed warmly. “Aren’t you hosting a book club meeting this week?”
Her face went slack for a moment. Every third Thursday of every month except for holidays.
“You’re right!” She exclaimed.
Of course he was right. He smiled. “What’s the book this week? Let’s see if we can’t find a good match.” He led her gently away from Mr. Sterling who was mumbling some names and then backtracking with a “no, that’s not it, it was something ethnic…”
Mrs. Eisen began chattering on about the book and how fabulous it was and how they were serving ‘tapas’ to go with the ‘flavor of the book’ and he steered her toward the Spanish wines. Did she want something specifically Castillian or would any region in Spain do? Did she want both red and white and did she want to serve sangria as well? Nolan told her the book club ladies would likely be very impressed if she made a sangria and no it wasn’t tricky at all, of course he’d write down the directions for her and yes he had the perfect selections to accommodate.
He kept her occupied with talk of tapas and pico del gallo and his experience taking a Spanish literature class in college and which lady had dropped out of the bookclub and whatever for, until she was rung up and had handed over her card for payment.
His phone vibrated in his pocket again and he itched to read the message but knew he had to keep the old biddy well and truly lost in thought or it could spell disaster for his brother. As Mrs. Eisen was saying her thank-yous and bustling out of the store trying to remember what she needed to pick up at the grocery store Mr. Sterling was ambling down the French wine row mumbling about damn ethnic names and why-in-hell-anyone’d-name-their-damn-brats-after-moviestars-and…
Nolan exhaled with a measure of relief. He’d been keeping half an eye on the entrance to the back, praying his brother wouldn’t stumble out before he could usher Mrs. Eisen on her way. He knew Ethel would remember Jonah Delaney’s embarrassing episode at some point later in the day or the next day and knew there’d be speculation, he just hoped they’d be able to get ahead of it, do damage control. There didn’t need to be rumors floating about that the Deputy Superintendent of schools had suffered any kind of nervous breakdown.
He stole a moment to check his inbox. Velvet had responded that she would be there as soon as possible, and then several minutes later sent another text saying she was leaving and was now on her way. Nolan didn’t have any idea where she might be coming from or how long it would take. He wrestled with the idea of calling Dr. Bennett, but decided to let Velvet make that decision when she arrived, provided nothing else happened with Jonah.
“Do you know any Ramirez?” Mr. Sterling asked, unable or unwilling to keep an ethnocentric edge out of his query.
“As in Hector Ramirez?”
Sterling looked blank.
“Hector’s family owns the little restaurant on the corner of Maple and Elm.” Nolan explained patiently.
“He got daughters?” Sterling seemed more ornery than was necessary.
“He has.” Nolan confirmed. “Maggie and Esperanza—“
“That’s it!” the old man cut him off, disgusted and triumphant. “That’s the one. Foolish sort of name. I’ve heard of Esmerelda--”
The store phone rang.
“Oh Esperanza got a scholarship? That’s great, she’s a sweet kid. Who else? Excuse me, I’ve gotta grab the phone.” He left Sterling mumbling again, deep in the throes of trying to recall the other recipient now.
“Good morning—afternoon, Delaney’s, how can I help you?” The clock had just ticked past noon.
“Is my dad there?” It was Viola.
Nolan felt a sourness creep into his gut, though he couldn’t be sure exactly why. He shouldn’t blame his niece for whatever was going on with Jonah, but sometimes he couldn’t help feeling like that whole family would be better off if they shipped the girl out to some boarding school somewhere.
“Hi Vi, everything ok?” She should be in school.
There was a brief pause.
“Hi Uncle Nolan” she replied, her friendliness as forced as his own “Yeah, things are fine, is Dad there?”
Nolan wasn’t sure why, but he was feeling protective of his older brother. “I hear you’re looking for a job, huh?”
“Oh.” Viola sounded as if she had most definitely not been looking for an afterschool job. “I guess—did my Dad tell you that?”
“I could use some help afternoons and evenings here and some weekend stuff too.” He wondered if she’d get tired of his dodging.
“Oh. Cool.” Her voice sounded strained. She was forcing a pleasant tone that she obviously did not feel.
“Yeah, why don’t you come in tomorrow after school and I’ll get you trained and ready to go.”
“Aren’t I too young?” she countered.
“No, don’t worry, you’re family.” And his brother-in-law was the one in the town office in charge of that labor law bullshit.
“Great” She couldn’t have sounded less enthused. “Can I talk to my dad?”
His gut was telling him to deny her, but nothing in his head could back that instinct up. “Sure Hun, hold on and I’ll put him on the phone.”
He pressed the button to put her on hold and headed to the back. On his way past Mr. Sterling he asked: “So Essie Ramirez and who was the other one?” without breaking stride.
Had viola tried to reach Jonah on his cell? How did she know where he’d be? When the fuck would Velvet get there?
He opened the door to the office and found Jonah slumped on the desk. His heart hiccupped. He rushed to his brother and shook him. He was warm but unresponsive. He shook him again, harder this time. It took a third and violent shake before Jonah stirred. He’d been miles deep in a sound sleep.
Nolan knew he wasn’t doing a great job keeping the horror off his face. He watched closely as his brother’s eyes came slowly, almost too slowly, into focus and he gazed groggily around the office.
“Nolan?” Nolan recognized that Jonah was really asking: ‘why the fuck am I here?’
“Phone’s for you.” Nolan responded roughly and crossed to lift the receiver and push the blinking button taking Viola off hold. He thrust the phone at his brother and walked back out of the office. He figured he’d better hurry Mr. Sterling along and put out the “Back in Ten Minutes“ sign.
Sterling was now shuffling idly down the champagne aisle, mumbling and shaking his jowels.
“Wasn’t it Addie Bishop’s boy?” Nolan knew full well who the scholarship recipients had been. Nolan Delaney knew just about everything that happened in Cedar Falls.
An ‘Aha’ expression dawned on the old man’s face and he smiled. “Correct!”
“Good kid.” Nolan said and Sterling nodded. “Now, were you looking for something for a special evening?”
The old man flashed a rueful smile. “How did you hear about that?”
“I haven’t heard a thing,” Nolan put his hands up “but when a man is prowling the French wines that’s a pretty good indication he’s got a special someone in mind.” Nolan winked. He wondered what the hell Viola was talking to Jonah about.
Sterling clucked his tongue and waggled a gnarled old finger at him. “You are entirely too observant young man.” But he was grinning.
“Does the lady like red, or white?”
Posts
1 comment:
yay! i like the brother character!! he seems swell! lol.
Post a Comment