fandomtownies | The Emporium is open

Grumbling, Michael flips over the "Closed" to "Open."

"Ma, I am so going to get you for this."

He stares at a greasy, slimy, bloody handprint on his window. Nothing is broken, but plenty is missing. Debbie left a list of what she took, and he's just started a tab for her. The rest of the note about a "zombie emergency" made no sense. Not until the decaying smudge on the window.

"Ben!" he announces as he bounds up the step, "We're going home to Pittsburgh."

Ben looks up from his writing, quizzically.

"This place has fucking zombies. Ma raided the place on Saturday to play Department of Fandom Security. I'm not going to live in a goddamn Night of the Living Dead remake. I heard students talking about werewolves too."

"Michael, be rational."

Michael grabs Ben and hauls him down to look at the handprint and Debbie's note. "Don't tell me about rational. My own mother says there are fucking zombies. You know Ma isn't one for jokes like that."

"Michael, we have our life-savings tied up here. We even sold the house. We can't go home."

Michael nods. He gets the glass cleaner and wipes away the hand print. "But if you turn into a fucking zombie, I'm gonna cut your head off without a seond thought. Then I'm going to move in with Hunter and drive him crazy."

Ben hugs him. "I'd do the same for you. You have a store to run."

Michael sighs and applies himself to straightening up the rifled stock and cleaning up.

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"Sorry," she says quietly, face pinched with an apologetic look. "I took some cough medicine, too, but I made sure to leave the money for it on the counter where you'd see it, since it wasn't part of the list Deb gave me. You found that, right?"

Giving Michael a befuddled look, she reaches down and pats her pockets, trying to remember what happened to the key Deb had given her. "Ummm, yeah, I just gave it back to your mom when I dropped the stuff off."

It's okay. Really.

I found the money. Thanks for letting me know what it was for. Oh. *opens till* Your change.

So you work for Ma? How's she treating you? She can be a slave driver when she wants.

"Oh, no, no... no, man, that's cool. I grabbed some clothes, too, while I was at it," she says, waving her hand. "Just a t-shirt and some pants since mine got ruined. That's what the extra was for."

Shane rests her hands on the counter and leans against it, smiling. "Your mom is... awesome. Really. I love working at the diner."

I thought I was missing some pants.
*sporfles*
That didn't come out right at all.

I'm glad to hear it. I love her, but she can be a handful.

Ma and Carl came through all right, I guess. But they had you looking out for them, too.

Shane laughs as he sputters. "Don't worry, I totally get what you're saying," she says, still chuckling. "I'd offer to bring 'em back, but... they wound up getting ruined, too. So, yeah, just keep the change."

"Yeah, well, it seems like your mom would have done just fine even without me there. She's one hell of a lady," she murmurs, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

That she is.

It musta been quite the weekend.

Anything you need today?

"You were out of town... you had the right idea," she says, grinning. Straightening up from the counter, she looks around. "I thought I might look around a little and pick up some food and stuff for my place. Sound cool? I can lend a hand putting stuff back the way it was. Sorry I didn't do it on Sunday, it's just... things were a little crazy." She stuffs her hands in her pockets and gives him a slightly sheepish smile.

It's okay, really

*bad mood is evaporating, smiles back*

Tidying up is what I have a clerk for.

Whatever you need. If we don't have it, we can order it.

*as she goes to look, he walks over to where Ben is writing. "Fucking zombies, Ben. That's the kind of town we're in."*

Shane returns several minutes later with a basket of groceries, including white grapes, cherries and strawberries from produce, a loaf of wheat bread and a jar of peanut butter, half a pint of skim milk, a box of cereal, a six pack of beer and other assorted items. She places the basket up on the counter and starts unloading everything so that Michael doesn't have to. As Michael heads back up to the counter, Ben looks up at her and their eyes meet. She offers him a friendly smile, holding up her hand in greeting.

*rings up and makes change*

There you go. You come by and see us any time, Shane.

"I will. Take it easy, Mike," she says as she takes her change. She picks up her bag of groceries and offers him and Ben both a quick smile as she heads out.

The Emporium is open

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