100TWC - Day 56: Everything For You

Shona dug her friend sharply in the ribs.

"See? It's changed again."
"Ow!" Ella rubbed the spot, frowning. "Yes, alright. So what?"
"It changes every day."
"So you said."
"Don't you think it's strange? I never saw a shop that changed its window display every day."
"You can hardly call that a display," Ella replied, still frowning as she squinted across the road against the early morning sun. "It's only one thing. On a stool."
"I still think it's weird."
"I wish the bus would hurry up."
"I wonder what else they sell?"
"Who knows. Or cares?"
"God. You're so boring sometimes. Nothing ever happens around here and then someone takes over the old grocer's and puts loads of interesting and weird stuff in the window--"
"ONE thing."
"AT A TIME. OK, a SERIES of interesting stuff in the window, and no-one knows what they sell."
"Says everything."
"What?"
"The sign. 'Everything For You'. They must sell everything."
"Don't be daft! Nowhere sells everything. How would they fit it all in that little shop? It's only a grocer's."
"Was a grocer's. I wonder if they still sell fruit and veg and breakfast cereal?"
"See? You ARE interested. Why would they still sell groceries? It's not a grocer's any more."
"No, but they reckon they sell everything. That must include groceries."
"Think you're clever do you?"

The bus arrived, interrupting their incipient argument. Across the road, a thin blue-veined hand appeared inside the door of the shop they had been discussing, and turned the sign over to "CLOSED."

*

Shona and Ella alighted from the bus, their satchels weighed down with text books for the evening's homework, their faces still glowing from the last lesson of the day, which had been P.E. The homecoming bus stop stood right beside the old grocery shop. The sign in the door read "OPEN".

"Let's go in."
"What for?"
"To see what they've got."
"We don't have time! I've got a mountain of homework, and so have you."
"Five minutes."
"No Shona!"

Ella's plea was too late. Shona had already disappeared through the shop door.

"God's sake!" Ella sighed, following her friend into the gloomy interior of the shop.

Whoever owned it obviously had no notion of modern, 21st century retail. No mood lighting, or product placement. No special offer signs. No racks of brightly packaged goods. Beside the door, in the window on the now-familiar stool, stood a blue glass vase painted with an unusual geometric design. The rest of the shop was deserted save for a long counter on the back wall upon which sat an old manual till, its brass and pewter scrollwork shining dully in the gloom. The inside of the shop was lit with two small chandeliers, each holding six incandescent bulbs of very low wattage. They glowed amber and illuminated the shop with a sickly yellow light. The floor, which until only a few weeks ago would have been littered with bags of potatoes and rice, and shelves stacked high with domestic dry goods, was now entirely empty. Its bare boards swept, but uncovered.

"There's nothing here," Ella whispered. "Let's go."
"Can I help you ladies?" a deep voiced intoned. A tall, thin man stepped out from behind a curtain at the side of the till. He placed his hands on the counter. He wore a black suit, tie, and shirt. In the dim light of the shop his dark attire seemed to make his face and hands float eerily above the counter, unconnected to each other or anything else. "Shona, isn't it?" he asked, peering blearily at Shona.

"How do you know her name?" asked Ella.
"And Ella," the man went on. "Did you have a nice day at school?"
Ella swallowed.
"How do you know our names?"
"I think one of the locals might have mentioned you," the man said, cocking his head on one side as if trying to remember exactly who. "How fascinated you are with our little display."
"I never--" Shona began, but the man interrupted her, speaking as he bent down beneath the counter.
"I have something here for you," he said, "that might interest you."
He straightened, and placed a medium-sized book on the polished mahogany countertop.

A TEXT BOOK OF INDIAN HISTORY

read the title in large letters, while underneath in smaller letters, was printed

WITH GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES

"Just what you've been after for your homework, I think?"

The man smiled at Shona. She looked at the text, and back at the man.

"How did you--"
"And for Ella," he continued, opening a cabinet behind the till. Until that very moment Ella would have sworn the cabinet was empty, yet the man took from it a small box. He set it gently on the counter and removed the lid. Inside lay a burnished copper fountain pen. Ella had lost her own pen that very afternoon.