Fairy Circle (20 page)

Samantha sneered and cast a withering glare at Saffron. Saffron rolled her eyes and slammed the register shut, firmly placed Samantha’s change on the counter without counting it. To date, this was the boldest thing she had ever done. She didn’t want anything to do with this. She just wanted to find a dark, quiet spot and scream Ny out of her mind. She was convinced he really was in there, actually in there with her and aware of her every move. He was violating her. She turned on her heel and walked away. She had work to do, pots to sanitize.

“
What’s her problem?” she heard Samantha spit at her retreating back.

“
Maybe it’s too crowded in here.” Markis lowered his head and pushed his way through the gang of girls.

“
Hey, Markis!” Markis stared at the ceiling, then squeezed his chocolate eyes shut. He wheeled around.

“
What do you want, Samantha?”
To be worshipped? To pork half the east coast before 2020? To suffocate the life out of me?

“
We were just wondering what you were doing tomorrow.”

“
Do you mean ‘we’ or ‘I’?”

Samantha winced at him, then shrieked with gale forces of high-pitched laughter.

“
Ah, Markis. I don’t think so. A bunch of us are going to the tracks and we were just being nice enough to invite you along. I really hope you weren’t insinuating that I wanted you or anything because, to tell you the truth, that makes me a little queasy.” Her slit eyes darted in Saffron’s direction. “And to tell you the truth, I kinda, like, feel bad for you, ya know. I mean, what’s going on with you at school? What happened to all your friends?”

Markis’s jaw worked behind his cheeks. He shook his head, turned on his heel and walked toward the back of the store. He stopped at the coffee counter and watched Saffron abuse pots with a blue scrub wand while the water dashed against the bottom of the deep stainless steel sink and splashed up the walls.

“
Phone!” they heard Samantha howl.

Saffron watched out of the corner of her eye while one of the minions fumbled to get the phone to Samantha. Samantha slapped it to her ear and monotoned, “Call the Bitch,” obviously in response to a recorded command from within the phone. There was a quiet pause while everyone watched Samantha drum her Purple Plum Ho nails on the counter. She slammed one hand on her hip. “You know what, Mindy? I don’t care if she
is
your cousin. That little bitch isn’t going anywhere with us ever
again.
Get it? What’s she smokin’ anyway? She’s so like,
duh
.” Then Samantha slapped the phone shut with a crack of plastic and yelled, “Get the hell back in the car!” The minions filed out and the store was silent.

“
Saffron.”

She didn’t turn to answer him; she just kept scrubbing the same pot till the sanitizer grew thick on the walls of the glass.

Coco, aka Katy Perry, came screeching “Last Friday Night,” from the back room, nail file working hard. She stopped behind Saffron and in front of Markis, who was staring forlornly at Saffron’s back from over the counter and over two tiers of self-pump coffee thermoses.

“
What the…what’s going on here?”

The bell ting-a-linged. They all looked over at the door. It was ‘Jack Black,’ or rather, a woman that looked so much like him she could sign autographs. She always took exactly thirty seconds in the cooler getting cream cheese.

Coco looked at Saffron’s back, then at Markis as he shrugged and crossed his arms.

“
Okay, you know what? We’re adults here. Saffron, Markis wants you. Bad. Markis…” she raised an eyebrow and watched ‘Jack Black’ make her way to the checkout counter, “I’m pretty sure you could take Miss Hot Pants out back now and have her any way you want her. She’s ready for you.”

Smash went the pot on the floor as Saffron shrieked, “Oh, my God, Coco!” and fled to the back of the store.

“
Nice, Coco. Smooth.”

Markis turned and headed for the door. ‘Jack Black’ put the cream cheese on the counter and cleared her throat, staring at the cigarette display directly in front of her.

“
One minute Ja…Ma’am,” Coco called over her shoulder as she eyed Markis with disapproval. Then her face flip-flopped as if she just remembered something. “Markis, can we get in an extra practice tonight?”

Markis threw a look heavenward. “Oh, my God, Coco. You. Are. Insane. You know I have school tomorrow.”

Coco shrugged.

Ting-a-ling. Outside, Markis put on his helmet and got on his bike.

Coco watched him out in the dark parking lot.

‘
Jack Black’ leaned on the counter and stared from Coco to Markis, then back to Coco.

Coco walked right up to the window and mouthed, “Are we practicing tonight?”

Markis shook his head, gunned the engine, and wheeled off.

Coco backed up to the register. “No dedication.” She wagged her head.

“
Pack a’ Marlboros,” Jack grunted as she pushed the cream cheese toward Coco.

Saffron came scurrying from out back with a dustpan and brush. Coco never took her eyes off of her as Saffron hunched over the mess and scraped the glass from the coffee pot into the metal receiving pan. Saffron swiped her eyes and nose as if she was crying, but Coco couldn’t be sure.

‘
Jack Black’ left. Slowly, Coco walked over to Saffron, bent down and picked up the brown coffee pot handle. It had a jagged shard of glass sticking out of it like buckteeth. “Okay, I coulda had more tact.”

Saffron glared at the worn tiles. “Ya think?”

Coco shrugged. “Don’t get pissy, missy. Why does this have to drag on like this? You guys like each other. Get together. Come to band practice with me next time. I tried to get your boyfriend to have a session tonight but he’s all frantic about school. So come next Saturday…be his woman…see him every night, apply at his college, get in, shack up, get A’s together. It’s what you both want. I happen to know for a fact he liked you when you were still in high school, but he was afraid you’d explode if he got too near you. You guys have taken like, forever. What’s the problem anyway?”

“
What do you mean you, ‘know for a fact,’ he liked me?” Saffron’s face was bright red. She looked down at her worn Maryjanes.

Coco looked coy. “Last night, when we were jammin’, I was like, ‘so when did all this Saffron stuff start up?’ And he was like, ‘She used to bite her bottom lip in school till it was red and puffy; I was mesmerized.’ Shite! The dude actually said, ‘mesmerized.’
That’s a fricken nice compliment, right? And sucking on your lip? Ooooh, so sexy.” Coco sucked on her bottom lip. “Oh, yeah, baby, that’s nice.”

Saffron held her breath and scrunched her toes. The skin on the back of her neck shriveled. Just the thought of the reality Coco had painted filled Saffron with dread. Dread and guilt. How could she be with Markis? Every time she closed her eyes, Ny was there, waiting for her. But Markis couldn’t want her that bad. Not, “move with me to college,” bad. It would never happen. And as soon as she left this store, she would be safe at home again. Her skin relaxed.

Ting-a-ling. They both pushed off the counter where they were leaning and looked toward the door. It was the cowboy. Coco stood up straighter and smoothed her hands all the way down her apron. Saffron fretted.

The cowboy sauntered by. “Ladies,” he drawled, but his eyes were glued on Coco.

“
Why don’t you just go jump him right now Coco, if you like him so much?” Saffron forced the words out, barely above a hiss. She thought she might have a stroke on the spot. She lowered her eyes to Coco’s boots.

“
Mebbe ah will,” Coco drawled with a hack southern accent as she sashayed down the aisle toward the little break in the counter system that let her out to the main part of the store.

Saffron actually lunged for her, missed grabbing her wrist by an inch, then stood by, mortified, as Coco panthered up to the cowboy. She made him drop his Nesquick with her sly smile. Taking his hand, she led him back to the register counter, through the entrance slot, and down the aisle where Saffron stood rooted to the floor with the dustpan of shards still in her hand. Her mouth hung open as they passed. Coco smirked, winked, and kept on. The cowboy’s eyes were starting to glaze. Was he drooling? Saffron slapped her hand to her mouth. She witnessed them like a traffic accident. She wanted to turn away, but the drama was too seductive.

Through another doorway, she saw Coco lean up against the wall to the right of the bathroom door. She nearly choked as Coco pulled the cowboy toward her. Saffron dropped the dustpan of shards as she saw the cowboy bend at the knees, squat, then push forward, pinning Coco’s skinny-Levied pelvis up to the wall, grinding once, twice, one of his large hands yanking through her bed-head Cher hair, the other hand already sliding up her shirt.

“
Oh, shit.” Saffron shrieked low and ran to shut the door that separated the back of the store from the front of the store, blocking them from view. In a daze, she crunched back over the glass, back along the counter, turned herself like a marionette, and gripped the register. She covered her ears when the muffled moaning started.

Across the street, from the steepled church, five o’clock mass let out.

Four and a half minutes later, just as much time as it took her to get across the intersection with her walker, there came the first customer. Her blue hair peeked out from under her fur hat, her wool coat buttoned to her neck, and her galoshes firmly suctioned to her sensible shoes. She banged through the door, using her walker as a battering ram, threw Saffron a look that said, “I know you’re a little whore,” and step/step/clopped her way to the cooler.

The muffled noises increased. Saffron began to sweat.

Step/Step/Clop walked back to the front of the store as an elderly couple, also just released, greeted her with sugary smiles. They headed for the coffee station. Step/Step/Clop nodded at them, then turned to Saffron, her smile dropping from her face like dung from a donkey.

“
You got something going on out back?”

Saffron stared at her.

“
Hello? Out back, you got some noises. Like a machine breaking down or something.” Her hands fluttered. “Bang! Bang! Creeeeeak. Sounds like something needs a new belt before the whole thing blows.” She frowned at Saffron, shook her head. “Just this, please.” She pushed a carton of Half & Half across the counter.

Saffron could hardly make her hand work to punch the keypad on the register. From far away, Coco started ooooing.

The coffee couple arrived at Saffron’s register. They put their cups on the counter and spilled some. The old man leered, “Whatcha got? Got ghosts back there?
Oooooo
!”

Saffron felt bile creep up her esophagus. She dropped to her knees beside the pile of brown paper bags and started patting at them.

“
No,” said Step/Step/Clop from up above as she picked up her bag with the Half & Half in it, “She’s got belts loose back there. Mark my words; somethin’s gonna blow soon.” She Step/Step/Clopped out the door.

Saffron pulled, then pushed herself up, using the counter. When she was standing at full hunch, she held onto the rubbed Formica for dear life. “Will that be all?” The couple wasn’t listening to her.

The old man leaned over the counter, looked down the alley that Saffron stood in. “OOoooooooOOOoooo!” He put his hand behind his ear and waited for a response. But suddenly, all was quiet.

Saffron’s shoulders sagged. She punched the keypad, told them the coffee total was four dollars, twenty cents. They paid with a five. She punched in the numbers and the drawer rang open.

Then, a noise from the back. “Unh, unh, unh, unh.”

The man was still looking down the aisle at the closed door. Now his wife tilted over the counter to stare at the closed door as well.

Saffron’s shoulders hitched back up. She slammed the drawer shut in time with the next, ‘unh,’ so hard that coins burst from their slots, and the drawer missed its catch, and popped right back at her. She slammed it again in time with the next ‘unh,’ and again, ‘unh’ crash, ‘unh’ crash, ‘unh’ crash; quarters and nickels, dimes and pennies kept popping free.

Sudden awareness crossed the dry wrinkles of the little old woman’s face. Her hand fluttered to her chest. She gave Saffron the, “I know you’re a little whore,” look and yanked on her husband’s arm. He spilled more coffee. “Let’s go,” she snapped. He didn’t clean his mess.

Twenty minutes later the cowboy threw the back door open, adjusted his crotch, tipped his hat at Saffron, who noticed his fly was still open, and whistled out the door. Coco sauntered out. Her mouth and cheeks were red as if someone had sandpapered her. Her long, black hair puffed with knots. “Oh, God, I feel so alive! Don’t you think he looks like Matthew McConaughey?”

“
Owen Wilson.” Saffron mumbled into her hands. She leaned on her elbows at the register counter.

Coco yelled over the splashing as she washed her hands in the deli sink. “You still mad at me?”

Saffron dropped her forehead on the counter. “No. I just don’t know how you can be like that.”

“
Like what?” Coco opened her register to count out some bills and make a money drop in the safe.

“
Never mind.”