My Guest in Apartment 10B

NYC Streetwalker

The shop bell of Tchaikovsky's Groceries chimed loudly against the opening door. Arabella walked into the familiar strings of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons that echoed throughout the charming little store. 

The blonde teenage boy, whose name she had learned the day before—Alex, was behind the counter and busily staring at his phone. His friend, Mikhail, was stacking the empty shelves with Doritos and Cheetos, crunching the chips beneath the tight grip of his fingers as he jammed silently to his large headphones.

"Welcome, how are ya?" Alex called out without looking up from his phone, a déjà vu played out like a dream in front of her.

Arabella walked towards the corner, clipped a basket in her elbow, and pulled the grocery sheet out of her pocket. "Bread, meat, tomato, oil."

She rounded the corner and saw a whole section filled with different snacks and peanuts. "Nuts, definitely nuts."

She read the labels carefully and wondered what kind of nut would be the most versatile and most common in recipes. She hadn't even asked when James lived, surely that would have given them both a clue to what he was cooking at that time.

"Walnuts." Rows and rows of dried fruit, nuts, candies, and random munchies in glass canisters made the decision more difficult. Should she get black walnuts or the English variety? Shelled or unshelled?

Arabella looked around and compared the nuts available to her and noted that the unshelled black walnut variety was significantly cheaper than all the rest. In fact, it was on sale at 10% off!

If it was a sign she needed, then a discount was as clear as any sign could get.

She walked further and grabbed a bottle of oil and a packet of dried pasta and chose the best-looking pan bread. Moving to the frozen and chilled areas where most of the meat, vegetables, and dairy were located, Arabella spotted the healthy pinkish skin of raw chicken legs.

She loved chicken! If James was going to cook for her day in and day out, might as well make him cook food that she liked to eat.

Approaching the freezers, she picked the chicken legs with the tongs and bagged them cheerily. She was getting the most from this bargain with the dead, and while she enjoyed the fruits of this exchange, she was going to help him successfully pass on. It was definitely a win-win.

A man brushed shoulders with her, and she looked back to apologize. Arabella immediately recognized the man even with his white plastic coat and funky yellow gloves.

"Hello, Bertie."

Bertie smiled at Arabella and placed the sausages he was holding on a hook. "Well, I can't say I had expected you to still be here. What a pleasant surprise!"

Arabella grinned at the comment and placed the bag of chicken legs in the basket. "I believe I can successfully rule out rats from the apartment."

"Sylvia called," Bertie casually mentioned after nodding at her comment. He removed a slab of meat from the freezer and switched the slicing machine on as he continued to speak.

The metal wheels of the machine painfully brattled and echoed in the shop, its hair-tingling noise harmonizing with the high frantic notes of The Four Season's Winter portion.

"What?" Arabella tapped her ear with a finger as the noise caused momentary confusion.

Bertie was still talking over the machine. Arabella didn't think that he could hear himself either.

"I can't hear you!" She mouthed exasperatedly and continued to gesture with both hands tapping her ears.

Finally, Bertie understood and shut the machine off. "Sorry, I was saying that she asked if you wanted to have a night observation thing." He placed the slab of meat back in the freezer and laid out the sliced pieces on several trays. "20 dollars an hour? She said that she can throw in a tarot reading for free."