The Bees and Other Wild Things by Chase Connor

Author:Chase Connor [Connor, Chase]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Fish Press, The
Published: 2022-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

“This place is a money pit,” Ralph said casually. “Don’t know why I ever bought this godforsaken store to begin with.”

I handed the change over to the customer I had been checking out—Mrs. Freelance, a local English teacher—and said “goodbye” to her. Once she was out the door, I turned to my boss with a curious look. He was staring up at the ceiling by the soda coolers, an annoyed frown on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“We just had to replace that damned air conditioner,” he said as the bell over the door chimed, “and now we got cracks in the ceiling. This summer has killed us. All this dryness has caused the ground to shift and it’s tryin’ to tear this damned building down.”

I started to speak, but Wallace Lee’s voice stopped me.

“You want to sell out, you just let me know, Ralph,” he said with a chuckle.

I turned to find him approaching the register as he dug his wallet out of his back pocket.

“I don’t mind adding businesses to my portfolio,” Wallace Lee quipped.

He looked up at me and winked. I smiled back and automatically reached for the packs of Marlboro Reds.

“I ain’t sellin’ to you!” Ralph exclaimed, though he sounded amused. “You’d have a damn monopoly in this town!”

Wallace Lee chuckled again and passed me a ten. I rang him up and passed him change. He winked at me once more and headed for the door. He never stayed to chat when anyone else was in the store. Though time had passed, and supposedly times were changing in town, Wallace Lee never let other people in town see how well the two of us got along. It hurt my heart, but I didn’t stop him from doing what he thought was best.

“Well,” he said as he reached for the doorhandle, “if you decide to do what’s the right thing, you just holler!”

Ralph chuckled, but I couldn’t tell if he was being polite, or he actually found it funny. Once Wallace Lee was out of the store, I began wiping down the counter and cleaning up around the register. With only fifteen minutes left in my shift, I needed to get things ready for Danielle.

“I guess I’ll have to start doin’ some patches around here,” Ralph mumbled to himself. “No sense in payin’ someone else to come in and do it. Just a waste of money. A pit.”

I smiled and continued to clean. Having Ralph around the store for a few days, mumbling angrily to himself as he fixed up the store was not ideal. However, his running commentary, and annoyance, was comical. When Danielle arrived, she noticed Ralph muttering in the corner immediately. We exchanged amused glances, and I whispered a short synopsis of the day’s events. Rolling her eyes, she ushered me out the door.

Cooler than it had been in months, it was almost pleasant outside. Still warm, but not as suffocatingly hot as it had been for months. When I’d arrived at work that morning, I promised myself that after work I would walk straight home.

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