Aisleland Paradise

Chapter 13

Anna loaded up her car with all of her possessions and at around 4am she called James to see if he was awake. It seemed like every time she got dumped by a millionaire, Anna wound up at James' place. He was usually a pretty good sport about it.

"Anna. What the hell." said an extremely sleepy James.

"I won't bug you with story time but I just got kicked out of Craig's. Can I crash there tonight?"

James woke up a bit at that.

"Do you need me to come get you?"

Perv.

"No, but that's really nice of you to offer." she added sarcastically. "I just need a couch. Is that ok?"

"Yes. I'm unlocking the door and going back to bed. Wake me up when you come in and I'll murder you."

A tired Anna took a mental inventory. She had a working car, clothes, a modest amount of survival equipment (hair curler, hair flattener, hair dryer, etc.), a little bit of money in the bank, and shelter to live in. Her basic needs were covered for the short time, plus she now possessed business experience and connections, and that meant opportunities. She wasn't doing quite as great as she was this time yesterday, but she was treading water, and that was ok.

She decided to go in to work the next day and for the first time in weeks

James and Calvin were deep into a serious-sounding conversation when Anna joined the two of them at the courtesy counter. According to their elaborate notes and diagrams cluttering up the workspace, they were debating whether marinara jello could, and if so, should, exist.

"Anna, thank God you're here." Greeted Calvin. "We need your opinion. Would you be more likely to purchase an item if it were called marinara jello, or jello marinara?"

"Can I chose to kill myself instead?"

James said that he was going to aisle 8 to get supplies so they could "science this shit," Anna had no idea what that meant and prayed not to find out.

"You know, Anna, if you want to get settled in a bit, I'd be happy to cover the counter for a little while," said Calvin.

There were piles of paper everywhere, no one had touched any of the books or the safe logs in days. Anna picked up a cashier till report and saw that it wasn't the one she was used to, it was new, there were even some terms that she didn't recognize.

"Um, yeah, if you don't mind, I think I need a coffee."

Calvin told her not to worry, that he'd take care of everything, then turned and faced the store with a fairly decent posture and his hands clasped in front of him, politely nodding hello as people walked by. An old lady needed help in the liquor department, Calvin told her to head on over there and he'd get someone to help her immediately. She smiled sweetly and thanked him, he kindly told her she was welcome, then he made an overhead page for Ryan to report to the party center for customer assistance. No one named Ryan worked at the store, currently or ever, and Anna was almost positive that Calvin knew that, but everyone seemed happy with the resolution to the situation and she didn't want to wreck the moment.

Anna was starting to like Calvin. He was pretty chill, intensely likable, and willing to go along with pretty much anything, offering polite encouragement along the way, wherever the conversation or situation was headed. She still couldn't figure out who he was though, there was no mention of him anywhere in the computer. She wasn't sure if he just wandered in and started working and everyone all just played along because he was cool, or if James went and deputized some random dude to fill the gap left by Anna's romantic adventures and Derek didn't have the balls to tell him that he couldn't do that. Regardless, he was alright and she hoped he'd stick around.