Are You Haunted (part twenty-two)

Are You Haunted

(part twenty-two)

They had pulled into the parking lot of a drugstore, BONHOF’S on the glass in big gold script. Guy showing Powell four fingers, counting off a list.

“…you payin attention? Mrs. Drybrook wants to have a look at you in person. I got no comment on that.”

But alone with a little cash to spend, Powell was taking his ease. He lingered eyeing a display of bud vases, a choice of pink, yellow, or blue. Praying hands over a Bible in gilt; each with a small plastic rose, crafted as though its bud had just opened.

One dollar. He pursed his lips, held back whistling aloud. He was set on another Coke and chocolate bar… but he could afford this too. It seemed like manners to enter Mrs. Drybrook’s house with a gift. She might be about to offer him a job.

The old man at the register said: “I can put that in a box. You don’t want the sticker, do you?”

He didn’t wait for Powell’s decision on either question, but rooted under the counter, picking at the vase with a fingernail. Absently he wiped bits of sticker on his apron. Bonhof already had rung up Powell’s personal things, and had dropped them, one by one, into a paper bag.

He did not like the looks of Powell. He kept his head lowered, his words addressed to the hands Powell rested on the counter. Powell talked to the three moles on Bonhof’s pink scalp.

He didn’t like the look of these, either. “Sir, where’s your washroom?”

Bonhof hesitated.

Powell gathered his bag. He was paying for his purchases; he was entitled to use them.

“You got something for your mother,” Bonhof said. “You figure you’ll go home and see her, is that right?”

A lie with a nod, and Bonhof boxed the vase. A pretty thing, this box, gold foil with a celluloid top. Bonhof met Powell’s eyes, and pointed to an alcove behind the counter.

“Thought you headed out the back way.”

Guy tossed his newspaper to the rear seat. He ignored the clean-shaved face.

Powell hadn’t thought of that…something to read, how he would spend his dull evenings. He lacked courage to ask Guy if he could have the paper. Balancing the open bottle between his knees, he rummaged for the chocolate.

This earned a disgusted glance. “Mrs. Drybrook’s is one street over. Fifteen minutes, you be eatin lunch.”

22

Haunted
Are You Haunted (part twenty-three)

(2019, Stephanie Foster)