When Fate Is Not Enough ~ A For All Time fic ☼ Chapter 9
Oki, so here we are, the post dance Zombie Apocalypse! Thanks to zaleti for letting me use the fighting reference! :) Enjoy!
The brain was a strange thing. Even in the most bizarre situations, like being tossed back in 1896 for a random example, it could adapt and create a state of normal for the circumstances. A routine of sorts, if you want. So going to church Sunday after Founders’ Day was normal. It was also unexpectedly entertaining in the sense that the pastor had organized a mass with the town's choir to honour the town’s creation in his own special way. So all the people who were already swearing of drink with the fervour of the profoundly hung over were basically offering heartfelt prayers to God to make them stop singing. Probably the most pious church service of the year.
Then came the visiting with the neighbours, which was admittedly subdued due to aforementioned collective state of Ugh! It was also cut short for that very reason, though no one would willingly admit it. However brief it was though, it did cement Charles' interest in Laura for everyone. He was waiting for her at the bottom of the church stairs and while they didn't chat as long as he would have liked, Laura having duties at home, it was enough to plaster a silly grin on his face all day.
Then Monday came with work. Izzie showed up at the shop at her regular time. Saying ‘Hi’ to Mrs. O'Reilly, she put on her apron as usual.
"So? How did you enjoy the dance, girl?"
"T'was good."
Mrs O'Reilly snorted, pushing a box of toothpowder packets to Izzie.
"Didn't see you on the floor much, the partners not to your liking?"
The face she got in return sent the woman in raptures; her laughter was hard enough to make her grab her ribs. Of course, she would have noticed that. Iz was halfway through the box when her boss calmed down sufficiently to come and stand next to her, a smile on her lips, but this one was more gentle and infinitely more satisfied.
"Some took advantage if it though. Good job in getting him to ask."
"Nothing a good, old-fashioned threat of bodily harm can't accomplish."
Mrs O'Reilly's shock was genuine, but it passed soon enough, replaced with that deep laugh. Izzie smiled at her, not at all hinting that she was serious. What Mrs. O'Reilly didn't know couldn't hurt her opinion of Izzie. The bell above the door rang and the shopkeeper walked to the counter to assist her customer as she routinely did. And that was when normal got slaughtered that day. It was replaced instead by a bad small town remake of Dawn Of The Dead. Except that here, she couldn't behead, eviscerate, decapitate or just plain massacre the frakking zombies. Which was just as well considering she was only wearing one pair of panties. And, of course, they weren't real zombies. They were, in fact, worse creatures: gossip mongers.
Now, in a small town general store, a little chat, which was, admittedly, a lot of 'info' being passed about other people was totally expected. It was a fact of life, but this? This was disgusting, despicable, low and it made Izzie want to shoot every single one of them. It started with that first customer.
The creature was disguised in a fashionable dress, correct hat and gloves, a nice-looking little brooch that spoke of good taste and means. The little laugh lines around her eyes were a sigh of general happiness. She was pretty, with blond hair piled up nicely and Iz didn't pay her too much attention. Her first fatal mistake. She was only half listening, just in case she was required, but it didn't seem so. Mrs O'Reilly and the smart undead, maybe she was out of I Am Legend (the book, not the movie), were trading questions about the health of various family members. Then the creature passed her order and it started: her transformation from upstanding member of the community to... Something. Mrs O'Reilly was measuring some fabric for the thing when it leaned against the counter casually, to better plan its attack surely.
"How did you find the celebrations on Saturday?"
Silence reigned while Iz walked to the counter with the empty box.
"I think Mrs. Allen was talking to you girl."
"What? Me?"
The thing smiled and, after the fact, Izzie would swear she saw some blood there, maybe bits of broken lives as well.
"Well, of course you. Seeing as you're new in town, we want to know how we fare in comparison to St. Louis."
She choked down the snort.
"Yeeeeeeeaaaah, it was great, you know, festive."
It smiled with pride and a touch of kindness to better fool its prey.
“You and your... What's your relation to Mr. Lattimer again?"
"He's my godfather."
"Yes, godfather. Well, you seemed to enjoy yourself quite a bit."
"We have a cheerful disposition."
The thing nodded benevolently and it played with it's gloves, to better hide the bits of brain caught in the nails, unquestionably.
"I was sorry not to see you dance more, though."
"Ah, well, I don't know many people so it's kind of awkward."
"Of course, how silly of me! Mr Lattimer doesn't seem half so shy. I saw him dancing a few times."
Alarms started to light up in Izzie's brain, but it was an easy level, kind of like being at condition two: alert, but smooth.
"Yeah, well Charlie likes to dance."
"And he seems to like Laura Brown as well."
All pretences were dropped and it stepped to condition one as everything screamed: Danger Will Robinson, DANGER!!!
"Yeah, well, he's the friendly sort."
"They danced twice."
"So? Who's counting?"
It came out a little aggressively, enough to make the creature's eyebrows disappear in her hairline.
"Well, you'll understand that people are wondering."
"Because two single, heterosexual, mentally capable adults danced together at a town function? You people need a hobby."
Izzie crossed her arms and stared at the zombie with hostility and perhaps a touch of murderous rage in her eyes. It was enough to make IT notice that if it wanted to keep its head on, maybe, just maybe, backing off slowly right about frakking now was in its best interest. So it did.
"Well, it was just natural curiosity."
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiight."
With a smile fighting for existence, Mrs. O'Reilly finally came to the rescue, whose would forever remain up for debate, and handed Izzie some more work and the walking dead's purchases. Iz took the work with relief.
"Good day Mrs Allen."
She walked away fuming, putting the products on the shelf a little forcefully, the repetitive 'toc, toc, toc' of soapboxes hitting wood was clearly audible even over parting pleasantries. Once the creature was safely away, Mrs O'Reilly's laughter exploded and she just had to sit down. When Izzie came by to drop the extra soaps, she gave her boss a venomously look.
"Glad to see you so amused."
"Cheer up, girl. By the time your day's done, the whole town will have been in."
"Great. Awesome. Perfect."
Her less than gracious reply brought even more laughter and Mrs. O patted her shoulder affectionately. Unfortunately for Iz, her boss' prediction came true and by the time the lunch rush was over everybody, their mother and their third cousin twice removed had been in. Oh, all of them wanted an item or another of various importance, but it was all pretence to try to pry stuff out of Iz. Much to their dismay, she was less than agreeable to that scheme. Most of their inquiries, out of the realm of her work of course, were met with a grimace she passed for a smile, noncommittal grunts and a stare that clearly stated: 'eat shit and die'. The town folks were surprised at her unwillingness to share, but they passed it off as her being from the big city and not understanding how things work in small towns.
Truth was, she simply didn't see how it was any of their business and that after years of being unfairly labelled unmarriageable, Laura deserved a little time to be courted in peace. She needed time to reconcile herself with the fact that Charlie wasn't a lying, cheating piece of shit and that she could really show interest in him. Granted, Laura was doing well in that score if the dance was anything to go by, but Iz still wanted to give her that. It was just too damned bad if the people of Somerville didn't like her for it.
As the zack kept flocking to the store, Iz found some work to keep her out of sight. She restocked and rearranged meticulously all the items Mrs O'Reilly kept behind the counter for convenience’s sake. String, papers, candies, out if which she might stolen one or two, and the likes had never seemed so fascinating to her before. While that had seemed like a good idea at the time, in the end it proved to be a tactical mistake. Also, it could have been the start to a William Foster like meltdown if Mrs O hadn't subdued her with well-placed knees and a hand over her mouth. It started more brutally than all the other assaults. The bell chimed and Iz lowered herself that extra inch, even though she knew she was invisible from the door. Her boss went around the counter with an amused smile on her lips as she greeted the new comers.
"Mrs Nicholson, Mrs Barker, Mrs Grant. What a surprise."
No kidding. Izzie knew for a fact that those three women never did their own shopping. The doctor's, banker's and pastor's wives had better things to do so they sent their housekeepers to do all the commoners’ tasks. She kept on shelving, but she frowned when she noticed how close Mrs O'Reilly stood to her. She was totally crowding her.
"Yes, well, we thought..."
Sylvia Nicholson sounded impatient, like she couldn't believe Mrs O'Reilly was questioning their presence even though it was strange.
"Well, to be quite honest, we didn't come here to shop."
At least, the pastor's wife was honest if useless. Mrs Grant continued.
"We heard rumours that your new shop girl was less than friendly and we just wanted to remind her that Somerville wasn't like St. Louis. Here, friendliness and neighbourly attitude are paramount."
Iz looked up toward the holier-than-thou voice and glared through the counter.
"Isadora's friendly enough. She's polite to the customers and she does good work, that's all I expect from the girl."
"But Mrs O'Reilly surely you're wrong, Mrs Griffith told me she'd been rude and uncooperative."
Mrs Barker has that sort of whiny, lazy voice that was grating in a child, so in a grown-up, it was totally smack worthy.
"I didn't see anything of the sort. The girl helped Mrs Griffith in a proper way. Now, if she refused to gossip, I can't say I blame her."
"Gossip! No! Never!"
The denial came from them like it wasn't what they were doing and the idea was preposterous. Izzie gave a silent snort at their indignation. Mrs Grant spoke next, her voice haughty and bordering on pompous.
"We're not gossiping, we're making sure that an upstanding member of this community, someone whose behaviour was seen by all is conducting herself in a manner fit for a Christian woman."
Izzie's mouth fell open in disbelief and she tried to stand but the knee Mrs O'Reilly had managed to lodge in the crook of her neck prevented her from doing so.
"I'll assume you're not talking about Izzie so that leaves Laura Brown. And I can’t see what kind of unchristian behaviour you can pin on that woman."
Izzie sent two thumbs up to Mrs. O'Reilly while gently trying to slip from under her knee, but the woman had unbelievable balance and she stayed where she was, pushing Izzie down.
"Well, we just don't know, do we? Did you see how she acted on Founders' Day? She's never given any man the time of day before and now she danced twice with Mr. Lattimer."
Everything about Mrs Nicholson was unpleasant and the way she spoke clearly indicated that not only did she believe everything she was saying, but that she couldn't conceive how people couldn't see what she was insinuating and Iz didn’t like one bit the picture she was clearly trying to paint.
"I reckon that's plenty unfair to Mrs Brown. There wasn't a worthy man who came calling either until now."
"Ah! So you admit they're courting?"
The way Mrs Grant jumped on Mrs O'Reilly, you'd believe there should have been a judge, a jury and a defence counsel somewhere in the room. Iz wanted to scream objection and tried to get up again, but her boss had moved her left leg to hold Izzie’s shoulder and the way she had put her foot behind Izzie's butt, the girl just had no leverage to move.
"I didn't say anything of the sort. I simply said that's what it looked like. We can't find fault in that, especially when her own mother was in attendance."
"But we can't know if hey are behaving appropriately. Remember when he came around on the train before? How they spent so much time together? Well, when he came to settle, she didn't say two words to him."
That whiny speech pattern made every sentence longwinded and annoying as hell, but not so much as the implication Izzie could see lurking in the near future. Apparently, Mrs O’Reilly saw them too because she put her hand over Izzie's mouth.
"Now, I'm certain I don't know what you're implying Mrs Barker, but you’d be wise to rethink it. You’re talking about a good woman.”
“But is she? Acting like a man with that business, maybe she figured she could in other area as well. And maybe the reason she’s talking to him now is because she has to.”
Izzie was fighting so hard against Mrs O’Reilly’s hold that the woman had to grip the counter to steady herself. How dared they imply that Laura was… Well, a slut by 1896 standards? Didn’t they know what kind of woman she was? Too good for the lot of them, that was for sure.
“I’d be careful with accusations like this Mrs. Grant.”
“Well, can’t you see our point?”
Iz could only imagine Mrs. Nicholson’s busted arse hole face pinched in her self-righteousness and it made her foam in the mouth. She made it worse to try to convince her boss to let go, she had a lot to say. No such luck.
“The man kept leaving and then he stayed. What if she behaved like one of the doves? The man obviously had no intention of staying. George at the hotel said as much when Mr Lattimer was forced to spend the night because of the train. Said they talked about his wife being upset. That would make Laura Brown no better than a harlot, a home wrecker!”
The gloating in Mrs. Grant’s voice made Izzie want to throw up. She clawed at the shelves to pull herself up, desperately wanting to go over the counter and punch their lights out for daring to use those words in the same sentence as Laura’s name, but her boss used her free hand to trigger one of Izzie’s pressure points and she went limp. All she had was her burning rage and hatred, running down her face in burning tears. She wasn’t one to cry, but this was her only outlet.
“Enough! I won’t tolerate this type of talk in my shop and not about a woman who deserves out respect. She’s of a good sort and Charles Lattimer is a stand-up man. If he were married, do you think he would have his godchild here with him, while he carried on some kind of… tawdry affair? What’s coming out of the three of you is ugly and lower than what you accuse Laura Brown of doing. You should be ashamed!”
There was a moment of silence where Izzie knew they were all glaring at each other. All that was missing was the western standoff music and the tumble weeds on the horizon. Then, someone cleared their throat uncomfortably. It was Mrs. Nicholson.
“I hardly see reason to be ashamed. Except for you Mrs. O’Reilly, if you can’t see the dishonour she can bring to this community.”
“You’ll eat your words in a few months time and then you’ll come apologize. Until that time, I’m afraid we’ve changed the way we do business, We won’t offer credit to third parties or unreliable people and some items will be harder to get. Advise your housekeepers. Good day.”
A startled gasp came in answer to both the dismissal from a simple shopkeeper and the fact that their way of life was going to change drastically and they knew it. With a collective click of tongue, the vipers filed out of the store in silence. Once they were past the door, they started talking all at once. Mrs. O’Reilly waited until they were out of earshot, and at a safe distance really, before she released Izzie. She carefully stepped away from the girl, grabbed a washcloth to wipe her hand before she tossed it to Izzie. She walked to the door and flipped over the ‘open’ sign. Iz took that time to regain use of her limbs and wipe her face. Then she got up to glare at Mrs. O’Reilly.
“Why did you do that?! Why didn’t you let me punch their frakking face? And what’s with the Kung Fu?!!”
“Couldn’t let you, girl. Wasn’t worth the effort.”
Izzie’s hand clenched into fits and her scowl deepened.
“They called Laura a slut! Not only would it have been worth every effort. It would have been VERY satisfying.”
A chuckle and a gentle path on the cheek were not the responses Izzie had expected and it went a long way in defeating her anger toward Mrs. O’Reilly.
“I expect it would have been girl, but there’s things you ought to know before you act. Things that would make you change your mind because you’d cause problems for Laura.”
Well, didn’t that just stump Izzie. She eyed Mrs. O’Reilly and pulled herself up on the counter, settling in for the tale.
“I’m listening.”
The lady nodded and walked toward the stool she kept behind the counter, forcing Izzie to pivot on her butt. She sat on it with a weary groan and looked at Izzie with sadness.
“Sarah Grant hates Laura. I’m not talking about petty dislike or a grudge, I’m talking about real hatred. The woman’s got a mean streak a mile wide and most people steer clear, but no matter what Laura Brown does, she’s always the main target, has been since they were girls.”
“Why?”
“Well, see Laura’s always been beautiful.”
Izzie giggled at the obvious statement.
“No shit?!”
“Damn straight, but in a small town like this and with a very small marriage mart, well that rubs some girls and their mama the wrong way.”
“They fought for the same man?”
Mrs. O’Reilly chuckled and grabbed some ribbon she had left by the register and she started to roll it, slowly.
“Well, now, there was no fight at all really. Thomas Clark and Alfred Brown were friends and business partners. Their families socialized a lot. I’m fairly sure the Clarks are the youngest Brown girl’s godparents. So the point is, the children grew up together and mothers will be mothers. They always hoped to see Laura marry one of the Brown boys. I reckon they thought she’d marry the one closest to her in age, seeing as Will was born a few years ahead of Laura. Nothing extreme, mind. About five years at the most, but it was enough for him to be eligible for marriage sooner than she. Now Will, he’s always fancied Laura and he didn’t hide it, saying since she was born that he’d marry her. Boy meant it, and it was enough for Laura to feel confident enough to come out on her twelfth birthday and announced that when she’d been all grown they’d get married.”
They both laughed at that. It was something she had no trouble imagining: Laura, with her quiet strength, announcing her intentions.
“And what did he say?”
“Boy found her flowers in the middle of February and told her to consider herself engaged. And that became their plan. Now, with their daddies being such good friends, it was a match made in heaven for everyone in this town, even those who didn’t like it. Except Sarah. She was a year older than Will and she’d been chasing him since she was old enough to stop finding boys icky. She still was the day Laura turned seventeen and William Brown put a diamond on her finger. Course, it was just their engagement so she considered him fair game still, she was just more aggressive about it. It may have included Laura being pushed in the churning river, down a flight of stairs, that type of things.”
Izzie let out a low whistle.
“Euh, Alex Forrest anyone? Gods!”
The smile she got in return was small and cheerless. It must have been a weird time for everyone, not knowing if Laura would make it to the altar in one piece.
“Let’s just say that when the wedding came the April after Laura turned 18, Sarah’s family was the only one in the county that wasn’t invited and they felt the shun. By that point, the girl was almost an old maid and her father felt it was best to marry her off as soon as may be. Problem was, she’d driven away every potential suitor so when Stephen Grant came here as the new pastor, her father saw the golden opportunity. No one knows how, but she was married three months later. They didn’t want him to discover that his young bride, and there’s a good 18 years between them, wasn’t fit to be a pastor’s wife. She’d always been strange, but by the time she got married, she was dark and twisted. But the woman’s a good actress, I’ll give her that. Pretends well to fit her station in everybody’s face, but behind closed doors, it’s a different story and Laura’s always born the full brunt of it.”
A deep sigh closed that sentence and Izzie watched her put the ribbon she’s been winding and unwinding down. The lady looked weary and Iz almost felt bad, having her recount such an ugly story, but now that Mrs. O’Reilly was almost at the end, she wanted it.
“How?”
“At first it was little things, how she kept home, how she was too young to be a proper wife, then came the children thing. It took Laura a long while and a few miscarriages before she was able to hold on to Mary. Sarah had made sure to get pregnant as soon as she could and from the top of her pregnant belly she insinuated to everything and everyone that there was something wrong with Laura, something unclean. She went a little biblical too, being the preacher’s wife and all. Then Mary was born. Laura and Will, they were just tickled pink to have a little healthy baby, so the fact that she wasn’t a boy didn’t matter a jot to them. But Sarah went on and on about how Laura couldn’t even provide a son for her husband.”
“BITCH!! That’s bullshit! Men give the sex to the baby not the women. GODS! And Mary’s perfect, damn it!”
Mrs. O’Reilly smiled at Izzie’s outburst and reached out to pat her knee.
“She is, girl. And Will didn’t care, he loved that girl and her mama with everything he was, showering them pretty girls with love, gifts and attention, singing both their praises: how Mary was the sweetest baby and how Laura was the best mother. Boy thought he was the first father on God’s green earth. Sarah saw all that as a personal insult and she maligned Laura as much as she could, but people mostly stopped paying attention to it. When you hear water flow all the time, you only notice it when it stops. Sarah was kinda like that. One day she stopped and we don’t really know what happened but Mary was just a toddler she went missing for a couple of hours. Just enough to panic her parents something awful and Sarah started again, mightier than ever, on how Laura was an unfit mother and she should have her baby taken away from her.”
“WHAT?! The! FRAK!? She probably took her!!”
“Never was proven, but we all knew and that little girl was never left alone after that and Will took it up with her husband. Now, Stephen Grant is spineless when it comes to his wife, but his standing in the community’s very important to him so Sarah went away for a while. Visiting her sister they said. She came back that November. Will died in January. Instead of offering her condolences like any Christian would have done, she accused Laura, told her it was her fault and so on. But her husband told her to shut it or she’d be sent away again.”
Whatever anger had left Izzie came back full force and she started to squirm on the counter, ready to jump down, hunt the woman and beat the ever loving shit out of her.
“How can someone be so mean and people let her?”
“Small town. You’re stuck with the people for better or for worse, might as well humour them, especially the pastor’s wife.”
“UGH!”
Mrs. O’Reilly smiled wanly and got up from her stool. She looked out the window while she stretched her back and saw the people in the street looking at the shop expectantly. She turned back to Izzie, her face tired, her eyes still sad and finished her tale.
“Sarah has a long reach in this community and that’s in spite of all her faults. She can’t keep her children from being terrified of her and preferring boarding school to home, but when her husband can’t see, she can ruin a business, she can ruin a person and she can talk a stupid man in trying to have a law passed to ban women from owning businesses to see Laura fall on her ass even if it means wrecking the life of other people.”
“She’s behind that?!”
Mrs. O’Reilly nodded wearily and Iz suddenly realized how much her boss stood to lose if the law cam in effect.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.”
“That’s about right. Now run along girl, you’ve suffered enough for today, I think.”
“Thanks.”
Izzie jumped off the counter and came around to kiss Mrs. O’Reilly’s cheek.
“Enough of that! On with you, there’s customer to disappoint.”
Izzie laughed and picked up her purse from behind the counter, leaving the apron in its place.
“See you Wednesday.”
“You better.”
With one last wave, Iz walked out the front door, not looking at the people who were waiting to walk in the store. What she saw were three women standing off to the side and glaring at her. She glared right back and took a deep breath to calm the burning rage in her belly as she hurried her pace toward to the post office and walked in quickly. She leaned against the door with a sigh and Charles looked up from the post bag he was filling and gave her a weird look.
“You alright?”
“This is the day that never ends. It goes on and on and on my friend.”
“Yeah, there seemed to be a lost of people at the store today.”
She the look she sent him was hostile, suddenly realizing that she’d been the only one to suffer. Of course they wouldn’t ask Charles and Laura directly, too straightforward for everyone.
“Astonishing powers of deduction you have there Watson.”
He sensed the weariness in her tone and looked at her funny. They were interrupted by two men pushing the door in Izzie’s back. Their eyes were as big as saucers and they were looking around as if they expected to find a body with the axe still in its head on the floor. She hissed and walked out, not wanting to deal with whipped husbands. She looked around and strategically assessed her best escape route. The only safe haven seemed to be the paper. It seemed to only logical place to hide, so she made a beeline for it and walked in quickly with a breathy hello. She looked around and went to Laura’s desk, she got on her knees and laid down under it with a sigh of relief. She didn’t see the puzzled look Fred and Laura exchanged. She was too busy being glad to be hidden. No one would come looking for her here. Except maybe Laura. She came next to the desk and peeked under it.
“Isadora?”
“Hummmmm?”
“Are you alright?”
“Hummmmm-hummmmm.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Isadora?”
“Hummmm?”
“What are you doing?”
“Hiding under your desk.”
Maybe it was the mostly matter-of-fact tone laced with a good dose of DUH! That did the trick, but Laura blinked at her once before straightening and going back to her work. Iz was grateful for it because despite the noise of the press and the strong vibration of the floor against her back, it was the most peaceful her day had been. She even fell in a doze that Charlie broke by walking in.
“Where is… Oh.”
It barely took Charles a second before he poked his head under the desk.
“Hey Iz.”
“Hey Charlie.”
“You gonna come out?”
“Nope.”
“Hummmm.”
Then he did the one traitorous thing she never would have pegged him to do. He took out a chocolate bar and waved it in her ace. Her eyes followed it like it was the last one on earth.
“You want it?”
She made to grab for it but he yanked it away.
“Come and get it.”
And with that he back away from the desk one step at the time, leaving the chocolate just within her reach, if she just took that one step closer to it.
“I hate you.”
But she got up from under the desk and went straight to him, taking the chocolate from him forcibly. She ripped through the paper and took her first bite. The taste was heaven and she felt a little more normal, letting out a little moan of pleasure. Laura and Charles grinned at each other and waited until she’d consumed half before speaking to her. Charles took the first step.
“So, what happened at work?”
“Zombies. Loads of them rose from their graves and flocked to the store.”
“Zombies?”
Izzie nodded at Laura, not registering that the puzzled look wasn’t for her enigmatic statement, but for the word itself. She looked at her chocolate and broke another piece.
“Maybe they were dementors. Anyway, I almost landed Zombie Kill Of The Week. Totally would have if Mrs. O’Reilly wasn’t some kind of insane Kung Fu Jedi.”
“Kung Fu master or Jedi, you can’t be both.”
“Improbable it may seem, but true it remains.”
She finished her chocolate as Charles chuckled and she looked at him hopefully. He took out another bar from his pocket and handed it to her without a word.
“You’re a genius!”
“I have a strong survival instinct.”
She smiled at him and he turned to Laura, a third candy bar in his hand,
“Here, I didn’t figure Izzie would be in a mood to share.”
Laura took the chocolate from him with a smile and a blush at the attention. She whispered a thank you and broke off a piece she offered him with a question.
“What did she say?”
“I’m sorry?”
The feeling of being lost in translation was never so strong as right this instant.
“What did it all mean?”
“Oh. Euh…”
Charles and Izzie shared an embarrassed look. How were they supposed to explain that one? Luckily, they were saved by one of the zombies, the Chief Undead to be precise. Iz saw her walk toward the paper and her face darkened. Laura turned to see what had attracted Izzie’s attention and comprehension dawned with a sigh.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
It was Charlie’s turn to feel left out and Iz smiled nastily.
“Behold the queen of the damned.”
“Mrs. Grant?”
“Her mortal name and form don’t matter. They exist only to fool you. Now, I’m gonna go out there, I will waylay her without, I hope, punching her in the mouth, YOU.”
She poked Charlie’s chest with her index finger, hard.
“Stay away from the windows.”
“Why?”
“Stay. Put.”
Izzie walked toward the door and grabbed a few copies of the day’s paper Laura always kept in easy reach before she walked out. She had just finished putting them on display when the woman drew even with her.
“Is that today’s paper?”
“Of course, Ma’am, Would you like to purchase a copy?”
The things eyebrows rose at Izzie’s tone. It was extreme customer service as dished out by the hardened customer experience rep. It was the one that was bordered on all side by oily, I hate you, know-it-all and arrogant.
“You work here too, now?”
“I consider it important to take all the opportunities the Lord provides me with to make myself a more knowledgeable therefore better person.”
The patronizing tone was perhaps a bit much when paired with the preaching, but it was satisfying to see the woman chew the inside of her lip.
“Is Mrs. Brown here?”
“She is indeed, but I’m afraid she’s very busy. Since you’ve never been in that position, I don’t think you quite grasp how time consuming running a paper is, so unless it’s directly related to the business, she asked not to be disturbed. I would, however, be glad to pass on a message.”
The perceived insults of ‘you ignorant twit’ and ‘you unchosen bitch’ made her stand up straighter and her eyes glowed with malice.
“Too busy for her friends?”
The gall of that bitch! Iz took a deep breath and painted on her most pleasant smile, though she did infuse it with steel and as much surprise as she could,
“Oh! I didn’t realize that you two were friends. I thought you were much older than Mrs. Brown.”
That line of bull got Izzie some clenched fists and it was as sweet and soothing as that first taste of chocolate.
“Usually, I would say go for it, but today is busy, which, as her friend I’m sure you’ll understand and are used to. And as her friend, I’m sure you’ll find some time to visit with her at some later point. Can I interest you in a paper?”
There was a sniff and the woman walked away, her nose in the air.
“Have a wonderful day Mrs. Grant.”
The witch faltered a little but she kept walking. Izzie pulled her tongue at her back. It was juvenile, sure, but Charlie wouldn’t, have to bail her out of jail for it. She waited until Mrs. Grant was well away before she walked back in the building. She was glad to see Laura working and Fred putting Charlie through his paces. They looked good side by side like that. Iz was smiling when Laura turned to her. She had that cute little worried frown on her face and fuzz filled Izzie’s heart at being on the receiving end of it.
“Was she very difficult?”
“Well, she is just a fucking stupid bitch from hell…”
“IZ!”
She had the grace to look at Laura sheepishly.
“Sorry Mrs. Brown. But she IS! And I will find someway to bring her down a peg of two. Otherwise, there’re LOADS of things I can do with a spork. A dull one.”
Charlie snorted.
“Good luck finding one of those.”
“I’m nothing is not resourceful.”
They shared a smile and Iz saw Laura try out the word, but she decided not to comment, not knowing how to explain everything she had heard today, something you just had to live with. So instead she watched Charlie, Laura and Fred work together. When Mary came in from school, she helped her with her homework while the kid ate the candy Charles had kept for her. Izzie watched Laura look over their shoulder and Charles smile at them and she frowned. Forensic science wasn’t that advanced, there had to be a way to kill Sarah Grant and make it look like an accident. There had to be.
---------
Oh" I just realised as I was writing Mrs. Nicholson that she and Dr. Nicholson are actually based off of Dr. No-no and Bodybag in Bad Girls so I guess they belond to SHED productions.
The brain was a strange thing. Even in the most bizarre situations, like being tossed back in 1896 for a random example, it could adapt and create a state of normal for the circumstances. A routine of sorts, if you want. So going to church Sunday after Founders’ Day was normal. It was also unexpectedly entertaining in the sense that the pastor had organized a mass with the town's choir to honour the town’s creation in his own special way. So all the people who were already swearing of drink with the fervour of the profoundly hung over were basically offering heartfelt prayers to God to make them stop singing. Probably the most pious church service of the year.
Then came the visiting with the neighbours, which was admittedly subdued due to aforementioned collective state of Ugh! It was also cut short for that very reason, though no one would willingly admit it. However brief it was though, it did cement Charles' interest in Laura for everyone. He was waiting for her at the bottom of the church stairs and while they didn't chat as long as he would have liked, Laura having duties at home, it was enough to plaster a silly grin on his face all day.
Then Monday came with work. Izzie showed up at the shop at her regular time. Saying ‘Hi’ to Mrs. O'Reilly, she put on her apron as usual.
"So? How did you enjoy the dance, girl?"
"T'was good."
Mrs O'Reilly snorted, pushing a box of toothpowder packets to Izzie.
"Didn't see you on the floor much, the partners not to your liking?"
The face she got in return sent the woman in raptures; her laughter was hard enough to make her grab her ribs. Of course, she would have noticed that. Iz was halfway through the box when her boss calmed down sufficiently to come and stand next to her, a smile on her lips, but this one was more gentle and infinitely more satisfied.
"Some took advantage if it though. Good job in getting him to ask."
"Nothing a good, old-fashioned threat of bodily harm can't accomplish."
Mrs O'Reilly's shock was genuine, but it passed soon enough, replaced with that deep laugh. Izzie smiled at her, not at all hinting that she was serious. What Mrs. O'Reilly didn't know couldn't hurt her opinion of Izzie. The bell above the door rang and the shopkeeper walked to the counter to assist her customer as she routinely did. And that was when normal got slaughtered that day. It was replaced instead by a bad small town remake of Dawn Of The Dead. Except that here, she couldn't behead, eviscerate, decapitate or just plain massacre the frakking zombies. Which was just as well considering she was only wearing one pair of panties. And, of course, they weren't real zombies. They were, in fact, worse creatures: gossip mongers.
Now, in a small town general store, a little chat, which was, admittedly, a lot of 'info' being passed about other people was totally expected. It was a fact of life, but this? This was disgusting, despicable, low and it made Izzie want to shoot every single one of them. It started with that first customer.
The creature was disguised in a fashionable dress, correct hat and gloves, a nice-looking little brooch that spoke of good taste and means. The little laugh lines around her eyes were a sigh of general happiness. She was pretty, with blond hair piled up nicely and Iz didn't pay her too much attention. Her first fatal mistake. She was only half listening, just in case she was required, but it didn't seem so. Mrs O'Reilly and the smart undead, maybe she was out of I Am Legend (the book, not the movie), were trading questions about the health of various family members. Then the creature passed her order and it started: her transformation from upstanding member of the community to... Something. Mrs O'Reilly was measuring some fabric for the thing when it leaned against the counter casually, to better plan its attack surely.
"How did you find the celebrations on Saturday?"
Silence reigned while Iz walked to the counter with the empty box.
"I think Mrs. Allen was talking to you girl."
"What? Me?"
The thing smiled and, after the fact, Izzie would swear she saw some blood there, maybe bits of broken lives as well.
"Well, of course you. Seeing as you're new in town, we want to know how we fare in comparison to St. Louis."
She choked down the snort.
"Yeeeeeeeaaaah, it was great, you know, festive."
It smiled with pride and a touch of kindness to better fool its prey.
“You and your... What's your relation to Mr. Lattimer again?"
"He's my godfather."
"Yes, godfather. Well, you seemed to enjoy yourself quite a bit."
"We have a cheerful disposition."
The thing nodded benevolently and it played with it's gloves, to better hide the bits of brain caught in the nails, unquestionably.
"I was sorry not to see you dance more, though."
"Ah, well, I don't know many people so it's kind of awkward."
"Of course, how silly of me! Mr Lattimer doesn't seem half so shy. I saw him dancing a few times."
Alarms started to light up in Izzie's brain, but it was an easy level, kind of like being at condition two: alert, but smooth.
"Yeah, well Charlie likes to dance."
"And he seems to like Laura Brown as well."
All pretences were dropped and it stepped to condition one as everything screamed: Danger Will Robinson, DANGER!!!
"Yeah, well, he's the friendly sort."
"They danced twice."
"So? Who's counting?"
It came out a little aggressively, enough to make the creature's eyebrows disappear in her hairline.
"Well, you'll understand that people are wondering."
"Because two single, heterosexual, mentally capable adults danced together at a town function? You people need a hobby."
Izzie crossed her arms and stared at the zombie with hostility and perhaps a touch of murderous rage in her eyes. It was enough to make IT notice that if it wanted to keep its head on, maybe, just maybe, backing off slowly right about frakking now was in its best interest. So it did.
"Well, it was just natural curiosity."
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiight."
With a smile fighting for existence, Mrs. O'Reilly finally came to the rescue, whose would forever remain up for debate, and handed Izzie some more work and the walking dead's purchases. Iz took the work with relief.
"Good day Mrs Allen."
She walked away fuming, putting the products on the shelf a little forcefully, the repetitive 'toc, toc, toc' of soapboxes hitting wood was clearly audible even over parting pleasantries. Once the creature was safely away, Mrs O'Reilly's laughter exploded and she just had to sit down. When Izzie came by to drop the extra soaps, she gave her boss a venomously look.
"Glad to see you so amused."
"Cheer up, girl. By the time your day's done, the whole town will have been in."
"Great. Awesome. Perfect."
Her less than gracious reply brought even more laughter and Mrs. O patted her shoulder affectionately. Unfortunately for Iz, her boss' prediction came true and by the time the lunch rush was over everybody, their mother and their third cousin twice removed had been in. Oh, all of them wanted an item or another of various importance, but it was all pretence to try to pry stuff out of Iz. Much to their dismay, she was less than agreeable to that scheme. Most of their inquiries, out of the realm of her work of course, were met with a grimace she passed for a smile, noncommittal grunts and a stare that clearly stated: 'eat shit and die'. The town folks were surprised at her unwillingness to share, but they passed it off as her being from the big city and not understanding how things work in small towns.
Truth was, she simply didn't see how it was any of their business and that after years of being unfairly labelled unmarriageable, Laura deserved a little time to be courted in peace. She needed time to reconcile herself with the fact that Charlie wasn't a lying, cheating piece of shit and that she could really show interest in him. Granted, Laura was doing well in that score if the dance was anything to go by, but Iz still wanted to give her that. It was just too damned bad if the people of Somerville didn't like her for it.
As the zack kept flocking to the store, Iz found some work to keep her out of sight. She restocked and rearranged meticulously all the items Mrs O'Reilly kept behind the counter for convenience’s sake. String, papers, candies, out if which she might stolen one or two, and the likes had never seemed so fascinating to her before. While that had seemed like a good idea at the time, in the end it proved to be a tactical mistake. Also, it could have been the start to a William Foster like meltdown if Mrs O hadn't subdued her with well-placed knees and a hand over her mouth. It started more brutally than all the other assaults. The bell chimed and Iz lowered herself that extra inch, even though she knew she was invisible from the door. Her boss went around the counter with an amused smile on her lips as she greeted the new comers.
"Mrs Nicholson, Mrs Barker, Mrs Grant. What a surprise."
No kidding. Izzie knew for a fact that those three women never did their own shopping. The doctor's, banker's and pastor's wives had better things to do so they sent their housekeepers to do all the commoners’ tasks. She kept on shelving, but she frowned when she noticed how close Mrs O'Reilly stood to her. She was totally crowding her.
"Yes, well, we thought..."
Sylvia Nicholson sounded impatient, like she couldn't believe Mrs O'Reilly was questioning their presence even though it was strange.
"Well, to be quite honest, we didn't come here to shop."
At least, the pastor's wife was honest if useless. Mrs Grant continued.
"We heard rumours that your new shop girl was less than friendly and we just wanted to remind her that Somerville wasn't like St. Louis. Here, friendliness and neighbourly attitude are paramount."
Iz looked up toward the holier-than-thou voice and glared through the counter.
"Isadora's friendly enough. She's polite to the customers and she does good work, that's all I expect from the girl."
"But Mrs O'Reilly surely you're wrong, Mrs Griffith told me she'd been rude and uncooperative."
Mrs Barker has that sort of whiny, lazy voice that was grating in a child, so in a grown-up, it was totally smack worthy.
"I didn't see anything of the sort. The girl helped Mrs Griffith in a proper way. Now, if she refused to gossip, I can't say I blame her."
"Gossip! No! Never!"
The denial came from them like it wasn't what they were doing and the idea was preposterous. Izzie gave a silent snort at their indignation. Mrs Grant spoke next, her voice haughty and bordering on pompous.
"We're not gossiping, we're making sure that an upstanding member of this community, someone whose behaviour was seen by all is conducting herself in a manner fit for a Christian woman."
Izzie's mouth fell open in disbelief and she tried to stand but the knee Mrs O'Reilly had managed to lodge in the crook of her neck prevented her from doing so.
"I'll assume you're not talking about Izzie so that leaves Laura Brown. And I can’t see what kind of unchristian behaviour you can pin on that woman."
Izzie sent two thumbs up to Mrs. O'Reilly while gently trying to slip from under her knee, but the woman had unbelievable balance and she stayed where she was, pushing Izzie down.
"Well, we just don't know, do we? Did you see how she acted on Founders' Day? She's never given any man the time of day before and now she danced twice with Mr. Lattimer."
Everything about Mrs Nicholson was unpleasant and the way she spoke clearly indicated that not only did she believe everything she was saying, but that she couldn't conceive how people couldn't see what she was insinuating and Iz didn’t like one bit the picture she was clearly trying to paint.
"I reckon that's plenty unfair to Mrs Brown. There wasn't a worthy man who came calling either until now."
"Ah! So you admit they're courting?"
The way Mrs Grant jumped on Mrs O'Reilly, you'd believe there should have been a judge, a jury and a defence counsel somewhere in the room. Iz wanted to scream objection and tried to get up again, but her boss had moved her left leg to hold Izzie’s shoulder and the way she had put her foot behind Izzie's butt, the girl just had no leverage to move.
"I didn't say anything of the sort. I simply said that's what it looked like. We can't find fault in that, especially when her own mother was in attendance."
"But we can't know if hey are behaving appropriately. Remember when he came around on the train before? How they spent so much time together? Well, when he came to settle, she didn't say two words to him."
That whiny speech pattern made every sentence longwinded and annoying as hell, but not so much as the implication Izzie could see lurking in the near future. Apparently, Mrs O’Reilly saw them too because she put her hand over Izzie's mouth.
"Now, I'm certain I don't know what you're implying Mrs Barker, but you’d be wise to rethink it. You’re talking about a good woman.”
“But is she? Acting like a man with that business, maybe she figured she could in other area as well. And maybe the reason she’s talking to him now is because she has to.”
Izzie was fighting so hard against Mrs O’Reilly’s hold that the woman had to grip the counter to steady herself. How dared they imply that Laura was… Well, a slut by 1896 standards? Didn’t they know what kind of woman she was? Too good for the lot of them, that was for sure.
“I’d be careful with accusations like this Mrs. Grant.”
“Well, can’t you see our point?”
Iz could only imagine Mrs. Nicholson’s busted arse hole face pinched in her self-righteousness and it made her foam in the mouth. She made it worse to try to convince her boss to let go, she had a lot to say. No such luck.
“The man kept leaving and then he stayed. What if she behaved like one of the doves? The man obviously had no intention of staying. George at the hotel said as much when Mr Lattimer was forced to spend the night because of the train. Said they talked about his wife being upset. That would make Laura Brown no better than a harlot, a home wrecker!”
The gloating in Mrs. Grant’s voice made Izzie want to throw up. She clawed at the shelves to pull herself up, desperately wanting to go over the counter and punch their lights out for daring to use those words in the same sentence as Laura’s name, but her boss used her free hand to trigger one of Izzie’s pressure points and she went limp. All she had was her burning rage and hatred, running down her face in burning tears. She wasn’t one to cry, but this was her only outlet.
“Enough! I won’t tolerate this type of talk in my shop and not about a woman who deserves out respect. She’s of a good sort and Charles Lattimer is a stand-up man. If he were married, do you think he would have his godchild here with him, while he carried on some kind of… tawdry affair? What’s coming out of the three of you is ugly and lower than what you accuse Laura Brown of doing. You should be ashamed!”
There was a moment of silence where Izzie knew they were all glaring at each other. All that was missing was the western standoff music and the tumble weeds on the horizon. Then, someone cleared their throat uncomfortably. It was Mrs. Nicholson.
“I hardly see reason to be ashamed. Except for you Mrs. O’Reilly, if you can’t see the dishonour she can bring to this community.”
“You’ll eat your words in a few months time and then you’ll come apologize. Until that time, I’m afraid we’ve changed the way we do business, We won’t offer credit to third parties or unreliable people and some items will be harder to get. Advise your housekeepers. Good day.”
A startled gasp came in answer to both the dismissal from a simple shopkeeper and the fact that their way of life was going to change drastically and they knew it. With a collective click of tongue, the vipers filed out of the store in silence. Once they were past the door, they started talking all at once. Mrs. O’Reilly waited until they were out of earshot, and at a safe distance really, before she released Izzie. She carefully stepped away from the girl, grabbed a washcloth to wipe her hand before she tossed it to Izzie. She walked to the door and flipped over the ‘open’ sign. Iz took that time to regain use of her limbs and wipe her face. Then she got up to glare at Mrs. O’Reilly.
“Why did you do that?! Why didn’t you let me punch their frakking face? And what’s with the Kung Fu?!!”
“Couldn’t let you, girl. Wasn’t worth the effort.”
Izzie’s hand clenched into fits and her scowl deepened.
“They called Laura a slut! Not only would it have been worth every effort. It would have been VERY satisfying.”
A chuckle and a gentle path on the cheek were not the responses Izzie had expected and it went a long way in defeating her anger toward Mrs. O’Reilly.
“I expect it would have been girl, but there’s things you ought to know before you act. Things that would make you change your mind because you’d cause problems for Laura.”
Well, didn’t that just stump Izzie. She eyed Mrs. O’Reilly and pulled herself up on the counter, settling in for the tale.
“I’m listening.”
The lady nodded and walked toward the stool she kept behind the counter, forcing Izzie to pivot on her butt. She sat on it with a weary groan and looked at Izzie with sadness.
“Sarah Grant hates Laura. I’m not talking about petty dislike or a grudge, I’m talking about real hatred. The woman’s got a mean streak a mile wide and most people steer clear, but no matter what Laura Brown does, she’s always the main target, has been since they were girls.”
“Why?”
“Well, see Laura’s always been beautiful.”
Izzie giggled at the obvious statement.
“No shit?!”
“Damn straight, but in a small town like this and with a very small marriage mart, well that rubs some girls and their mama the wrong way.”
“They fought for the same man?”
Mrs. O’Reilly chuckled and grabbed some ribbon she had left by the register and she started to roll it, slowly.
“Well, now, there was no fight at all really. Thomas Clark and Alfred Brown were friends and business partners. Their families socialized a lot. I’m fairly sure the Clarks are the youngest Brown girl’s godparents. So the point is, the children grew up together and mothers will be mothers. They always hoped to see Laura marry one of the Brown boys. I reckon they thought she’d marry the one closest to her in age, seeing as Will was born a few years ahead of Laura. Nothing extreme, mind. About five years at the most, but it was enough for him to be eligible for marriage sooner than she. Now Will, he’s always fancied Laura and he didn’t hide it, saying since she was born that he’d marry her. Boy meant it, and it was enough for Laura to feel confident enough to come out on her twelfth birthday and announced that when she’d been all grown they’d get married.”
They both laughed at that. It was something she had no trouble imagining: Laura, with her quiet strength, announcing her intentions.
“And what did he say?”
“Boy found her flowers in the middle of February and told her to consider herself engaged. And that became their plan. Now, with their daddies being such good friends, it was a match made in heaven for everyone in this town, even those who didn’t like it. Except Sarah. She was a year older than Will and she’d been chasing him since she was old enough to stop finding boys icky. She still was the day Laura turned seventeen and William Brown put a diamond on her finger. Course, it was just their engagement so she considered him fair game still, she was just more aggressive about it. It may have included Laura being pushed in the churning river, down a flight of stairs, that type of things.”
Izzie let out a low whistle.
“Euh, Alex Forrest anyone? Gods!”
The smile she got in return was small and cheerless. It must have been a weird time for everyone, not knowing if Laura would make it to the altar in one piece.
“Let’s just say that when the wedding came the April after Laura turned 18, Sarah’s family was the only one in the county that wasn’t invited and they felt the shun. By that point, the girl was almost an old maid and her father felt it was best to marry her off as soon as may be. Problem was, she’d driven away every potential suitor so when Stephen Grant came here as the new pastor, her father saw the golden opportunity. No one knows how, but she was married three months later. They didn’t want him to discover that his young bride, and there’s a good 18 years between them, wasn’t fit to be a pastor’s wife. She’d always been strange, but by the time she got married, she was dark and twisted. But the woman’s a good actress, I’ll give her that. Pretends well to fit her station in everybody’s face, but behind closed doors, it’s a different story and Laura’s always born the full brunt of it.”
A deep sigh closed that sentence and Izzie watched her put the ribbon she’s been winding and unwinding down. The lady looked weary and Iz almost felt bad, having her recount such an ugly story, but now that Mrs. O’Reilly was almost at the end, she wanted it.
“How?”
“At first it was little things, how she kept home, how she was too young to be a proper wife, then came the children thing. It took Laura a long while and a few miscarriages before she was able to hold on to Mary. Sarah had made sure to get pregnant as soon as she could and from the top of her pregnant belly she insinuated to everything and everyone that there was something wrong with Laura, something unclean. She went a little biblical too, being the preacher’s wife and all. Then Mary was born. Laura and Will, they were just tickled pink to have a little healthy baby, so the fact that she wasn’t a boy didn’t matter a jot to them. But Sarah went on and on about how Laura couldn’t even provide a son for her husband.”
“BITCH!! That’s bullshit! Men give the sex to the baby not the women. GODS! And Mary’s perfect, damn it!”
Mrs. O’Reilly smiled at Izzie’s outburst and reached out to pat her knee.
“She is, girl. And Will didn’t care, he loved that girl and her mama with everything he was, showering them pretty girls with love, gifts and attention, singing both their praises: how Mary was the sweetest baby and how Laura was the best mother. Boy thought he was the first father on God’s green earth. Sarah saw all that as a personal insult and she maligned Laura as much as she could, but people mostly stopped paying attention to it. When you hear water flow all the time, you only notice it when it stops. Sarah was kinda like that. One day she stopped and we don’t really know what happened but Mary was just a toddler she went missing for a couple of hours. Just enough to panic her parents something awful and Sarah started again, mightier than ever, on how Laura was an unfit mother and she should have her baby taken away from her.”
“WHAT?! The! FRAK!? She probably took her!!”
“Never was proven, but we all knew and that little girl was never left alone after that and Will took it up with her husband. Now, Stephen Grant is spineless when it comes to his wife, but his standing in the community’s very important to him so Sarah went away for a while. Visiting her sister they said. She came back that November. Will died in January. Instead of offering her condolences like any Christian would have done, she accused Laura, told her it was her fault and so on. But her husband told her to shut it or she’d be sent away again.”
Whatever anger had left Izzie came back full force and she started to squirm on the counter, ready to jump down, hunt the woman and beat the ever loving shit out of her.
“How can someone be so mean and people let her?”
“Small town. You’re stuck with the people for better or for worse, might as well humour them, especially the pastor’s wife.”
“UGH!”
Mrs. O’Reilly smiled wanly and got up from her stool. She looked out the window while she stretched her back and saw the people in the street looking at the shop expectantly. She turned back to Izzie, her face tired, her eyes still sad and finished her tale.
“Sarah has a long reach in this community and that’s in spite of all her faults. She can’t keep her children from being terrified of her and preferring boarding school to home, but when her husband can’t see, she can ruin a business, she can ruin a person and she can talk a stupid man in trying to have a law passed to ban women from owning businesses to see Laura fall on her ass even if it means wrecking the life of other people.”
“She’s behind that?!”
Mrs. O’Reilly nodded wearily and Iz suddenly realized how much her boss stood to lose if the law cam in effect.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.”
“That’s about right. Now run along girl, you’ve suffered enough for today, I think.”
“Thanks.”
Izzie jumped off the counter and came around to kiss Mrs. O’Reilly’s cheek.
“Enough of that! On with you, there’s customer to disappoint.”
Izzie laughed and picked up her purse from behind the counter, leaving the apron in its place.
“See you Wednesday.”
“You better.”
With one last wave, Iz walked out the front door, not looking at the people who were waiting to walk in the store. What she saw were three women standing off to the side and glaring at her. She glared right back and took a deep breath to calm the burning rage in her belly as she hurried her pace toward to the post office and walked in quickly. She leaned against the door with a sigh and Charles looked up from the post bag he was filling and gave her a weird look.
“You alright?”
“This is the day that never ends. It goes on and on and on my friend.”
“Yeah, there seemed to be a lost of people at the store today.”
She the look she sent him was hostile, suddenly realizing that she’d been the only one to suffer. Of course they wouldn’t ask Charles and Laura directly, too straightforward for everyone.
“Astonishing powers of deduction you have there Watson.”
He sensed the weariness in her tone and looked at her funny. They were interrupted by two men pushing the door in Izzie’s back. Their eyes were as big as saucers and they were looking around as if they expected to find a body with the axe still in its head on the floor. She hissed and walked out, not wanting to deal with whipped husbands. She looked around and strategically assessed her best escape route. The only safe haven seemed to be the paper. It seemed to only logical place to hide, so she made a beeline for it and walked in quickly with a breathy hello. She looked around and went to Laura’s desk, she got on her knees and laid down under it with a sigh of relief. She didn’t see the puzzled look Fred and Laura exchanged. She was too busy being glad to be hidden. No one would come looking for her here. Except maybe Laura. She came next to the desk and peeked under it.
“Isadora?”
“Hummmmm?”
“Are you alright?”
“Hummmmm-hummmmm.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Isadora?”
“Hummmm?”
“What are you doing?”
“Hiding under your desk.”
Maybe it was the mostly matter-of-fact tone laced with a good dose of DUH! That did the trick, but Laura blinked at her once before straightening and going back to her work. Iz was grateful for it because despite the noise of the press and the strong vibration of the floor against her back, it was the most peaceful her day had been. She even fell in a doze that Charlie broke by walking in.
“Where is… Oh.”
It barely took Charles a second before he poked his head under the desk.
“Hey Iz.”
“Hey Charlie.”
“You gonna come out?”
“Nope.”
“Hummmm.”
Then he did the one traitorous thing she never would have pegged him to do. He took out a chocolate bar and waved it in her ace. Her eyes followed it like it was the last one on earth.
“You want it?”
She made to grab for it but he yanked it away.
“Come and get it.”
And with that he back away from the desk one step at the time, leaving the chocolate just within her reach, if she just took that one step closer to it.
“I hate you.”
But she got up from under the desk and went straight to him, taking the chocolate from him forcibly. She ripped through the paper and took her first bite. The taste was heaven and she felt a little more normal, letting out a little moan of pleasure. Laura and Charles grinned at each other and waited until she’d consumed half before speaking to her. Charles took the first step.
“So, what happened at work?”
“Zombies. Loads of them rose from their graves and flocked to the store.”
“Zombies?”
Izzie nodded at Laura, not registering that the puzzled look wasn’t for her enigmatic statement, but for the word itself. She looked at her chocolate and broke another piece.
“Maybe they were dementors. Anyway, I almost landed Zombie Kill Of The Week. Totally would have if Mrs. O’Reilly wasn’t some kind of insane Kung Fu Jedi.”
“Kung Fu master or Jedi, you can’t be both.”
“Improbable it may seem, but true it remains.”
She finished her chocolate as Charles chuckled and she looked at him hopefully. He took out another bar from his pocket and handed it to her without a word.
“You’re a genius!”
“I have a strong survival instinct.”
She smiled at him and he turned to Laura, a third candy bar in his hand,
“Here, I didn’t figure Izzie would be in a mood to share.”
Laura took the chocolate from him with a smile and a blush at the attention. She whispered a thank you and broke off a piece she offered him with a question.
“What did she say?”
“I’m sorry?”
The feeling of being lost in translation was never so strong as right this instant.
“What did it all mean?”
“Oh. Euh…”
Charles and Izzie shared an embarrassed look. How were they supposed to explain that one? Luckily, they were saved by one of the zombies, the Chief Undead to be precise. Iz saw her walk toward the paper and her face darkened. Laura turned to see what had attracted Izzie’s attention and comprehension dawned with a sigh.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
It was Charlie’s turn to feel left out and Iz smiled nastily.
“Behold the queen of the damned.”
“Mrs. Grant?”
“Her mortal name and form don’t matter. They exist only to fool you. Now, I’m gonna go out there, I will waylay her without, I hope, punching her in the mouth, YOU.”
She poked Charlie’s chest with her index finger, hard.
“Stay away from the windows.”
“Why?”
“Stay. Put.”
Izzie walked toward the door and grabbed a few copies of the day’s paper Laura always kept in easy reach before she walked out. She had just finished putting them on display when the woman drew even with her.
“Is that today’s paper?”
“Of course, Ma’am, Would you like to purchase a copy?”
The things eyebrows rose at Izzie’s tone. It was extreme customer service as dished out by the hardened customer experience rep. It was the one that was bordered on all side by oily, I hate you, know-it-all and arrogant.
“You work here too, now?”
“I consider it important to take all the opportunities the Lord provides me with to make myself a more knowledgeable therefore better person.”
The patronizing tone was perhaps a bit much when paired with the preaching, but it was satisfying to see the woman chew the inside of her lip.
“Is Mrs. Brown here?”
“She is indeed, but I’m afraid she’s very busy. Since you’ve never been in that position, I don’t think you quite grasp how time consuming running a paper is, so unless it’s directly related to the business, she asked not to be disturbed. I would, however, be glad to pass on a message.”
The perceived insults of ‘you ignorant twit’ and ‘you unchosen bitch’ made her stand up straighter and her eyes glowed with malice.
“Too busy for her friends?”
The gall of that bitch! Iz took a deep breath and painted on her most pleasant smile, though she did infuse it with steel and as much surprise as she could,
“Oh! I didn’t realize that you two were friends. I thought you were much older than Mrs. Brown.”
That line of bull got Izzie some clenched fists and it was as sweet and soothing as that first taste of chocolate.
“Usually, I would say go for it, but today is busy, which, as her friend I’m sure you’ll understand and are used to. And as her friend, I’m sure you’ll find some time to visit with her at some later point. Can I interest you in a paper?”
There was a sniff and the woman walked away, her nose in the air.
“Have a wonderful day Mrs. Grant.”
The witch faltered a little but she kept walking. Izzie pulled her tongue at her back. It was juvenile, sure, but Charlie wouldn’t, have to bail her out of jail for it. She waited until Mrs. Grant was well away before she walked back in the building. She was glad to see Laura working and Fred putting Charlie through his paces. They looked good side by side like that. Iz was smiling when Laura turned to her. She had that cute little worried frown on her face and fuzz filled Izzie’s heart at being on the receiving end of it.
“Was she very difficult?”
“Well, she is just a fucking stupid bitch from hell…”
“IZ!”
She had the grace to look at Laura sheepishly.
“Sorry Mrs. Brown. But she IS! And I will find someway to bring her down a peg of two. Otherwise, there’re LOADS of things I can do with a spork. A dull one.”
Charlie snorted.
“Good luck finding one of those.”
“I’m nothing is not resourceful.”
They shared a smile and Iz saw Laura try out the word, but she decided not to comment, not knowing how to explain everything she had heard today, something you just had to live with. So instead she watched Charlie, Laura and Fred work together. When Mary came in from school, she helped her with her homework while the kid ate the candy Charles had kept for her. Izzie watched Laura look over their shoulder and Charles smile at them and she frowned. Forensic science wasn’t that advanced, there had to be a way to kill Sarah Grant and make it look like an accident. There had to be.
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Oh" I just realised as I was writing Mrs. Nicholson that she and Dr. Nicholson are actually based off of Dr. No-no and Bodybag in Bad Girls so I guess they belond to SHED productions.