Fairly Normal People

-Chapter One-

Ding-a-ling-a-ling

Andy's lax gaze rose from the newspaper he had resting on the counter to inspect the incoming customers. His mouth winced briefly as he realised it was in fact his favourite customers, the metaphorical bulls in his metaphorical china shop. Even so Andy had no reason to complain considering that despite the menaces they had proven themselves to be time and time again, they were at the very least loyal customers. Though the reason might very well have been that they had been kicked out of or banned from every other hobby shop in town. Business is business at the end of the day and for Andy's small run down hobby shop, any business was good business.

"Now be careful kids, we wouldn't want to upset Mr. Sandman again." The mother said before her herd of children began to run amok.

Her tone sounded like that of almost sweet naivety, possibly oblivious that her visits had become a routine of thinly veiled chaos but Andy knew her better than that and could sense the dry sarcasm woven beneath. At least once a week they would come in, she would warn them with threats of isolation or physical punishment but never a threat was ushered (nor would they have ever been carried out) and would therefore lie on deaf ears. Oft times Andy would wonder if he had stereotyped them too harshly or judged them unfairly until of course the scene would play out in full.

CRASH

A small wooden figurine split in twain rested motionless on the ground at one of the little boy's feet. Andy sighed as he walked over to the boy and picked up the pieces as the child glared at him with a devilish grin knowing there would be no consequences. Two dollars and fifteen cents, Andy tallied in his head, determined this time to find out if he would actually make a profit from this visit.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry. It won't happen again." The hefty woman said with a sharp snort as a wry smile wrinkled the corner of her mouth.

"Let's please make sure it doesn't, Mrs Applebottom." Andy said with a forced forgiving tone, his voice forfeited its european origins though they had clearly faded with time.

But it will happen again and she will repeat the same line with the same condescending glint in her eyes and then playfully put her hands on her enormous hips and shake her head as the child runs off to once more wreak his wrath on some innocent and unsuspecting fragile object. It was all a game to them; they saw him as a pathetic, desperate hobby shop owner that they could repeatedly bully knowing he couldn't say no to their money and thus this game would play out at least once a week. Though as he thought to himself it seemed less like a perceived game and more like an apt description of the situation at hand. Andy prayed for another customer that would never come, knowing that around third parties they would be on their best behaviour as if a teacher had walked onto the school yard. Andy returned to his cluttered counter and once again took position over the dusty newspaper and continued to read the article on some inane event that had occurred twenty years prior. The faded print on the crumbling paper his brief sanctuary from the noise around him as he struggled to remember if he ever read this particular article when he picked up the newspaper those many years ago but once again his memories eluded him.

THUD

A stack of boxes was dropped in front of him directly on top of his fragile newspaper, kicking up a small cloud of dust and paper fragments into the air. Andy played it off as nothing while Mrs Applebottom coughed and spluttered within the cloud of dust, her stout and vertically challenged form trapping her within while Andy's tall slender stature allowed him to avoid it's clutches.

"You need to start properly cleaning this shop or you'll drive away your only customers." Mrs Applebottom spat out as she regained her composure.

"Just these, was it?" Andy asked as he rested his gangly hand on the stack of board games and puzzle packs.