The Book Shelf

The Costume Shop [3]

Working in a costume shop definitely has its advantages. I've had my Halloween costume ready for weeks, so there was no need for me to panic. As soon as I started working here, and sorted the store and stock room out, I raided through the outfits to see if there was anything I wanted to be for Halloween this year. I wanted to get it early so that I wasn't throwing some stupid outfit together and rushing around like a headless chicken; like most of the people in this shop are right now.

Today was October 31st.

Halloween was finally here.

The way people are acting right now you'd think this day was just sprung upon them, like it was some new event for people to celebrate. It's the same date every year people. Yet these customers who are running around the store shouting and pushing, completely unprepared and are acting like it's our fault we're sold out of everything.

Everything that we'd had delivered in over the past week was gone, we even had an extra delivery in this morning...and everything from that had been sold too. So with only two hours before we closed for the night, people were just grabbing any fancy dress outfit at this point just so that they had something to wear, anything to wear.

The worst customers are the adults; the kids were easy to please. But the grownups are the ones pushing people out the way, snatching items from one another and shouting that they'd picked it up first. It was amusing to watch really.

Halloween used to be so easy when I was a kid; I didn't wear any fancy store bought costume. My mum would just put me in an old black t-shirt of my dad's and used it as a dress, or she would throw a plastic bin bag over my head after cutting out a gap for my head and arms; put a cheap plastic mask over my face and a pointy black hat with green and black frizzy hair attached on my head; and boom...I was a witch. And if I was lucky I'd get fake rubber fingers to slip over my own that had long red painted nails. Although I'd never have all ten...and after half an hour they'd be falling off my fingers as they were so sweaty.

I'd just finished serving the line of customers when I saw my favourite customer walk through the door carrying two costa cups.

"How's it going today?" Adam asks whilst glancing around at the crazy customers.

"It's going as well as you can imagine." I grin at him.

"I figured as much, so I brought you this to cheer you up." He grins passing me one of the drinks.

"Thank you." I smile back whilst sniffing the chocolatey goodness coming from inside the cup.

"They were all out of honeycomb syrup, which I remember you telling me was your favourite so I got you caramel fudge instead. Hope that's okay, the girl behind the counter said it's really good."

I take a small sip as the flavours attack my taste buds and groan. "Oh this is sooo good. Thank you, you didn't need to bring me a drink though."

"I can take it back if you don't want it." he says teasingly whilst gripping the cup over my hands.

"Oh no you don't, this is mine now." I smile up at him and take another sip of the caramel fudge heaven.

"So what brings you by here apart from treating me?" I ask smiling at him. "You can't still be looking for a costume?"

"No, I've got that all picked out and ready to change into later tonight."

"So the reason you're here right now is..." I ask slowly whilst smiling at him.

"Well there just happens to be this girl who works here that I may have a more than friendly interest in." he says smiling at me whilst leaning over the counter.