The Faerie Key

Chapter Three

Selcouth started her day on the floor after rolling off the couch in her sleep. She bumped her head on the coffee table as she got up. The invitation fell on the floor. Selcouth picked it up and stuffed it into her pocket she only had enough time to wash her face and dash to open the store. She was sure no costumers would be there, but her mom instilled in her that "one lost sale, amounts to fewer beers to drink".

There were no people around, it seemed everyone slept in on Sundays. She fumbled with the keys before getting the door open. As she was flipping the sign from "closed" to "opened" she noticed the hours sign on the door which informed her that the store didn't need to be opened for another hour.

"Oh well," she shrugged. It gave her a chance to organize some more and maybe find the mysterious package her mom had used as bait to get her to watch the store. She knew that her parents would mess it up again but getting rid of clutter excited her. She opted for the back room where her parents housed the stuffed they didn't know what to do with or had no space for in the store. There were unopened boxes filled with candles of every color and oils with aromatic smells. There was a smaller box with angels and faerie statues.

Selcouth was surprised by a box with sex toys, her parents probably had mixed up their mail again. The next box was filled with books on sex tantra, maybe her mom had finally decided to open a sex shop. She remembered Tanya's request and look through the books to find the most scandalous one. A mid the covers of naked people with photo-shopped glowing light around them, there was a package with her name on it.

As she was about to open it a knock on the door woke her from her trance. When she got to the door the young husband stood outside alone.

"Sorry I know you aren't open yet, but I wanted to surprise her," he explained as Selcouth led him into the store.

"You want the Kama Sutra book?" Selcouth asked.

His face turned beet red as he shook it.

"Jewelry made of that stuff you told her about" he replied.

"Rose quartz."

He nodded. He couldn't possibly older than twenty.

She showed him the jewelry. He pointed at the heart-shaped pendant.

"Too much" he whispered when he saw the $75 price tag.

"We're having a special right now half price for those who buy" Selcouth looked around the store for something cheap "who also buy a card."

He looked at the card section and smiled when he saw one with a heart on it.
"Can I please borrow a pen?" he asked.

She handed him one, "would you like me to wrap up the gift."

He nodded as he kept writing.

Before he left Selcouth advised him to be gentle with the heart because they can easily break. He nodded again.

She returned to the task of organizing the backroom. She placed the box that she found in her bag.

She couldn't wait to get home and look inside it.

Noticing the time, she opened the store. A text from Tanya reminded her that after closing the shop she would need to go drinking. "Girls night?" she texted back. Selcouth hoped that Tanya would leave Lenny home. She didn't want to discuss art with him. His favorite artist of all time was Peter Max, she had lost all respect for him then. Plus, he would always push his artist friends on her. One time she had agreed to meet one of his friends for drinks only to be sold some crappy art.

"Of course =)" Tanya replied.

The day passed quickly, there were a lot of out of towners, mostly city folks. There were also a few goth-looking teens that glared at everyone but that giggled at the Kama Sutra books. She used to be like them in high school pretending to be something she was not. Maybe she was still doing it.