The Foundations of Dreamers

“When I was your age, I knew how to treat people with respect. You’re just a snowflake who cares more about herself than showing an old woman a bit of decency…and you know what else…” she glared, “You’ll go to hell for your actions.”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, I just can’t give you a hundred dollars worth of groceries for free. I could lose my job. If it’s too expensive, why don’t I just put some of it back for you,” I tried to reason with her.

“Shove it up your ear, lady.”

And she tossed the strap of her knitted bag over her shoulder and hobbled off towards the exit, leaving her mound of groceries in her wake.

“Trisha to register one, please. Trisha to register one.” I called over the loud speaker, then began unloading the conveyor belt into the empty cart the woman had left behind as Trisha came walking up to my station.

“You wanna go unload this stuff, and I’ll get these customers?” she offered.

“Yeah sure. Thanks Trish.”

I leaned over the cart handle and lazily pushed it onward to the produce section to reunite Miss Daisy’s purple plums with their heart-aching relatives.

“Don’t worry little lady, we’ll get you home in a jiffy,” I whispered quietly to the fruit.

“…did you just whisper sweet nothings to that provender?” I heard an inquiry behind me and I turned swiftly to see a petite woman with long brown hair standing smartly with one eye brow raised at me. I could smell her rose petal perfume from where I stood and the symphony it played in my nose began to make my mouth water.

“N-n-no no, I just uh,” I stumbled over myself and realized I was drooling on my chin. I turned my head and wiped my face hoping she wouldn’t notice. I struggled to find a resting place for my hands and decided to cross them when my attempt to lean on the cart almost left me on the ground without a single ounce of dignity left.

“Yes…I was talking to the fruit,” I shrugged, “she’s had a hard day, and I was giving her reassurance that life would be back to normal soon.”

She studied me like she was searching for what was left of my brain, I was ready for her to unload an arsenal of insults into me for being an absolute doofus, but instead she stood up a little straighter and shook her hair out of her face,

“Well, we better get her home then before she has a full on mental breakdown.”

She walked straight forward and grabbed the cart from me and began pushing it towards the fruits and vegetables. I stood and watched her walk away with my cart unable to decide if I should run beside her, run away, or just keep watching her hips move in a hypnotic, heart shaped, illusion. I shook myself out of the trance and I ran up beside her as she began replacing the plums. I took the bananas out of the bag and replaced them as well.

“So, what’s your name strange, fruit-whisperer?” she asked compellingly.

“Noah, what’s yours?”

“Ella.” She stared at me for a moment and began to fidget as though the magic spell that kept her confidence was beginning to turn back into a pumpkin…or a plum, I guess.

“Well, I better go,” she stammered, “it was nice to meet you, Noah.”

She began to walk away, and I thought for a moment about calling after her, but before I could I saw a man come up next to her and he put his arm around her in a familiar way, and I decided the fantasy I had envisioned in my mind was just that…a fantasy.

The day had come to a close and I was locking up for the night. The store looked peaceful as I switched off the lights and wished it to sleep…I wonder do the walls count carts till they fall asleep? Or maybe they dream of the savory smell of rotisserie chicken wafting through the halls…whatever they dream, they awaken everyday to hold up our business day after day, and for that I am grateful.

I let out quiet chuckle to myself as I thought about the strange creations of my lawless mind as I walked out into the chill night air towards my car. I noticed a sleek black suburban parked obtusely in the middle of the parking lot. I quickened the pace to my car, then paused when I heard a familiar voice.

“You really make a girl wait, don’t you?” The voice was coming from Ella, the woman I had met earlier.

“Ella? W-what are you doing here? Have you been here all day?” I asked as I made my way to her.

“Sure, I was waiting for you. I wondered if you’d do me a favor?” she raised an eyebrow and I gulped.

“What kind of favor?” I wondered.

“I need something delivered to an ex, but she’s not exactly my biggest fan right now, so I wondered if you could take it for me?”

“Wait, why me? You barely know me.” I said puzzled.

“I can tell an honest person when I see them, and it’ll give us something to talk about next time I see you.” She insisted.

“Next time—” she grabbed my hand and began writing on it. I looked down to see a string of numbers, an address. Also…her phone number…my heart quickened.

“Text me when it’s done, and we can talk the details of our date.” She winked at me as she walked back into her car and shut the door.

The engine roared to life and the headlights nearly blinded me, I shielded my eyes and she pulled the car in front of me and rolled down her passenger window and tossed a small duffel bag at me. I caught it and looked up at her,

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.” She gave me a small smile and sped off into the night as mysteriously as she came.

I looked around to see if anyone had seen what had transpired, but I was alone. I walked back to my car and got into the driver’s seat and I contemplated opening the bag, but Ella’s words rang out in my mind. Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to…and I decided to set the bag in the seat next to me and try not to think about it.

I punched the address into my phone and after about thirty minutes I found myself in a part of the city that I’d never seen before. The houses were as big as castles, but hidden from the rest of the world it seemed. We were really over the poverty line now; I could practically smell the caviar as I weaved in and out of the streets of gold and silver pavement. Finally, I arrived at the address, the house was lavish, and bigger than any other house on the block. Music poured out of the gold-curtain draped windows and down the driveway. It swept through the cars lining the street and encircled the fancy looking people walking up the steps to what I will now know as palace ex. I trudged up the steps in my un-befitting party attire, and into the house. The beautiful people surrounded me, and all together didn’t see me. A shimmering chandelier hung silently above me and I wondered how she ever got any sleep with all this racket going on around her. I began to wonder how I would know where the ex was, I didn’t even know her name.

“E-excuse me?” I muttered to the nearest passer-by who didn’t hear me or didn’t care. A few more tries and I was left with nothing but strange glances. I finally walked up to the man mixing the music,

“Excuse me, sir…could you tell me who is throwing this party?” I shouted loudly over the music. He nodded and pointed passed me to a woman in a glittering silver cocktail dress, sitting on the couch, laughing so hard that she spilled her drink on herself, and continued laughing hysterically.

I thanked the DJ and I walked over to the woman,

“Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but are you Ella’s ex?” I asked, trying not to acknowledge the stares piercing wholes in my outfit.

“Ella?!” She announced, “Screw that stupid…why? What does she want now?”

“Are you her ex-girlfriend?” I insisted.

“Yes! What do you want?” she yelled.

“She just wanted me to give this back to you…or to you or…” I held out the bag for her to take and she snatched it out of my hand. She unzipped it and peered inside and let out a loud guffaw. She swiftly zipped it back up and tossed it at me.

“Keep it.” She demanded. “It’s not like I need it anyway…now go away, you’re killing my buzz working girl.” She hissed.

I shrugged a smile and headed back out of palace ex and down the steps to reality. As the music faded and I was alone in my car again, I finally opened the bag. I was about to separate the folds to look inside when a loud rapping on my window startled me. It was the girl. I rolled down my window and she pushed a journal-sized black book towards me. I took it hesitantly.

“It’s her old diary…” she mumbled, “I thought she might want it back…” she stood at the window for a moment and wiped what looked like a tear from her eye.

“I’ll make sure she gets it.” I assured her.

She nodded at me and stepped away from the car. I put my car in gear and pulled away from the house, leaving her standing alone at the edge of the driveway and leaving me feeling a little sorry for her. I guess even all the money in the world can’t make up for love lost.

As I was pulling up to my tired house, I turned off my car to finally examine the bag beside me. I pulled open the folds to reveal piles and piles of the crispest money I’d ever seen. I stifled a gasp and thought for a moment. A smile crept across my face and I ran inside. My younger sister was sitting at the dining room table shading a sketch of our kitchen set up. I pulled up a chair next to her and stared at her intently. She looked up at me, obviously uncomfortable.

“What are you looking at, psycho?” she snarked.

“You ever thought about going to art school?” I asked, my leg shaking.

“What? Are you crazy? I can’t afford college. When I graduate next year, I’m getting a job at the supermarket with you and mom, remember?” she jabbed.

“Well, what if you could afford to?” I suggested and plopped the bag on the table.

She looked at the bag and then back at me before opening it. She recoiled in disbelief and looked again to make sure what she was seeing was real.

“Noah…” she hummed, “Where…?”

“Never mind that. I want you to use it to go to art school, Jen. Do you think that’s something you would want to do?” I asked.

She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tightly,

“Yes. Thank you, Noah, you’re the best big sister anyone could ever ask for.”

I smiled and sighed with relief as I hugged her back.

“You deserve it baby sis. Now get some sleep and I’ll help you look at schools in the morning.”

She nodded and headed down the hallway to her room with a new skip in her step. I smiled and decided I should head to bed myself. I stood up from the table and switched off the light.

“Goodnight, old house”, I whispered, “pleasant dreams.”