The life of Nusi

Chapter 5: A Place She Loves

The last day of school had finally come, and Nusi and her friends were all making the same promises and plans that everyone makes on the last day of school. "We will keep in touch, we will hang out, we will be together forever," and as we all know, most never keep those promises. Nari, Nusi's best friend, was going to the states with her parents for the summer, and the two promised to write every day. They already knew they'd have the same classes next year in High School, so they were ok with a summer apart. Plus, Nusi had to work. Nusi told Nari goodbye and to be safe, then hurried to the Pop Shop. She was running late and didn't want Mr. Lee to be angry with her. In the last six months she never missed a day and was never late. She ran through the front door of the Pop Shop quickly, put on her apron, and got right to work. She had gotten so good at working at the Pop Shop Mr. Lee would leave her there while running errands or he'd go home to take a break. Mr. Lee even had her close the Pop Shop but would always meet her to walk her home. As she started working, she yelled to Mr. Lee,

"I'm here!" He called back to her,

"Nusi, come here please, I need to talk to you."

Nusi thought she was in trouble for being late, so she thought she would just suck it up and take her lumps.

"Be right there," she yelled back.

"Sit down," Mr. Lee said. Nusi thought 'this must be bad if he wants me to sit.' Mr. Lee looked at her and said, "you can go."

"Go where," Nusi said.

Mr. Lee said. "Home."

Nusi sprang from her chair with such force the chair flew into the wall. "Really! I'm late one day. I never miss time, I do a good job, and I'm late once you're firing me. WHY???" Nusi Said with tears in her eyes.

"FIRE YOU?" Mr. Lee said confused. As he saw the tears rolling down her face, he said, "Nusi! SIT! I would never fire you; you paid your debt, you can go."

"GO WHERE I love it here. DON'T MAKE ME LEAVE! PLEASE! Nusi said.

Mr. Lee said, "you can work here if you like..." but was cut off when Nusi hugged him and refused to let go. Mr. Lee smiled and hugged her back. After a few more seconds, Mr. Lee pushed her back and told her in a stern voice, "GET BACK TO WORK! First wipe those tears off your face, I don't want the customers to think I beat you for being late."

Nusi smiled as she wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve. Mr. Lee laughed and shook his head as she ran off to get back to work. Mr. Lee thought to himself how much Nusi had changed, and how much joy it was to have her around. Mr. Lee had two children of his own. They were grown, and never came to see him. Mr. Lee wasn't alone in that, a lot of the older people in the town never saw their children. The only time the children came back was for a funeral. Mr. Lee's wife died years ago, and he never remarried. He always said, "God gives you one true love in your life, and I had mine, and that's enough for anyone." He had always hoped his children would take over the Pop Shop when it was time, and he could spend the rest of his days gardening and fishing. That wasn't meant to be. The Pop Shop sits on a prime piece of land right off the beach. When he brought up the idea to his children about taking over the Pop Shop, the first thing they both said was how much money they could get, and what they would do with it after they sold the land. They of course said they would find a nice retirement home for Mr. Lee where he would be around people his own age and how he could just sit back and relax. "Sit back and wait for death is more like it," Mr. Lee always thought. So, he told his children he was keeping the Pop Shop, and he would work it until the towns people found him dead on the floor one day. With that, not another word was said about it, and that was the last time he saw his children.