As The Mill Grinds

PILLARSDORF CHAPTER 9

Nadine Bryan 21 years old.

"Hey Janice! Good day Mr. Dayton!" Nadine greeted Janice the janitor at Drayton's Supermarket and Mr. Drayton the owner at the start of her shift. She started working at the supermarket a few months ago when she came back to the village in Pillarsdorf to look after her mother.

"Good morning" They returned her greeting.

"How was class last evening?" Janice asked. Janice was like a mother to Nadine and Nadine looked up to her and she shared in her words of wisdom when needed, and that was often.

"Class was good." Nadine had started evening classes hoping to qualify for Community College. Her goal was to sign up for the nursing programme. She'd figured nothing was holding her back from school and wanted to pull her life together.

"I see that young man walked you to work again this morning." Janice began, but kept her back to Nadine as she swept the floor.

"Uh, yes he did. " Nadine knew exactly where Janice was going with her small talk. "I'll get started on packing the shelves." She was hoping to avoid another lecture, but it came anyways.

"I told you about him. I don't like his eyes, them too shifty. He can never look you in the eyes, he like he hiding something." Janice turned to her and pointed at Mr. Drayton. "Look at Mr. Drayton over there. You see how steady his eyes are? He looks focused like a hawk. You can tell Mr. Drayton got ambition, but that young fella he eyes too shifty."

"Hiding something? I don't know what he can be hiding. He tells me everything, we have a very open and honest relationship." Nadine said pointedly in defence of her new found love, O'Neal Henderson. " And he's ambitious too! He wants to open his own hardware store and rental. "

"At who's expense?" Janice leaned on the groom and waited for her reply.

At this point Nadine was flustered and felt attacked. Her response was a bit edgy. "We will work on it together, just the two of us. We don't need anyone to worry about how we will get through. I trust him so that is all that matter."

"Ahahahahahaha! Mr. Drayton you hear she? Janice held on to the broom for balance after her bout of laughter.

"I hear she boah! Leave de young people to make dem mistakes and experience life. Dem prefer life teach dem dan we." Mr. Drayton replied in his raw Bajan accent. He was stationed by the cash register, but knew and heard everything that was happening in the store.

"I see the young fella from the big house up the hill passing here couple times and looking in every time he drive pass here. I wonder who he looking for?"

Nadine continued what she was doing. She was well aware of who Janice meant, but she promised never to speak or associate with the Vermonts ever again, even though it was five years now since she last saw any of them. She never told Janice and Mr. Drayton of her misfortunes with them and hated each time they hinted that she entertained Kai. But it wasn't long before they stopped making suggestions, because his housekeeper said they were soon moving to Canada for cancer treatment for Mrs. Vermont. 

"That is really unfortunate." Janice told the housekeeper the evening she came in to shop for them. "I wonder what her son will do now. It would be a dreadful thing to lose your parents at a young age. I heard he just completed his second year of Law at the university."

"Oh yes! I've only been with the family for two years, and I can tell you he has a good head on his shoulders. He would make some young woman a good husband some day. He's the Vermont's pride and joy. She wouldn't allow him to be distracted. I've never seen any one visit him except for his university colleagues and no girls never came." The housekeeper gloat.