T42 - Friday

[hernando_fuentes]

I totally know what day of the week it is, hush

The shop today was decorated with pictures and posters from the heyday of women's liberation. Suffragettes stood proudly in their sashes, women in trousers lounged on the steps of universities. The first female medical doctor and surgeon had a portrait front and center. A Rosie the Riveter poster hung on one side of the wall. Harriet Tubman's portrait bookended the doctor's. A print of Michelle Obama's official White House portrait was near the counter.

The color theme for the day seemed to be green, white and purple. Hernando smiled a little and patted the counter. "Happy Women's Day to you, too."

The pastries today ranged from delicate little sweets to Rosalie's giant decadent cupcakes. Savories in the form of hearty sandwiches and dainty little puff pastry cups filled with all manner of delights were in a cooled case.

He fed the quokka and took up station behind the counter.

[T42 is Open!]

Comments

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando smiled back, "Yes. I generally prefer things thus."

Instead of bad things for no reason. That was.. upsetting.

[always_someone]

Yeah, not every cloud had a silver lining.

Norman settled in for more quokka scratching, looking thoughtful.

"I'm Norman," he offered, because they seemed to be doing the friendly chatting thing, and if he was going to become a regular for the sake of quokka, he might as well at least introduce himself. "Hi."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando inclined his head politely, "And I am Hernando. It is nice to meet you, Norman. You are one of the students from the school?"

[always_someone]

"I am, yeah," Norman agreed. "I have a job in town, too. But, I mean, I guess most people do."

[hernando_fuentes]

"It does seem to be popular," Hernando agreed, "I have not been around the island so much but it seems to lack other activities a little bit."

[always_someone]

"Yeah, unless you're into bodybuilding or you like arcades, it's kind of quiet," Norman agreed. "I mostly just do a lot of reading."

Comic books.

[hernando_fuentes]

"I go dancing on the mainland," Hernando offered, "Or watch telenovelas or musicals. Sometimes I read. What genre do you enjoy most?"

[always_someone]

See Norman. See Norman's big sticky-outy ears go a shade of pink.

"Supernatural horror," he offered. "I'm really big on supernatural horror."

[hernando_fuentes]

"A well filled out genre," Hernando nodded, "I do not mind it though I do not ever read it near bedtime."

[always_someone]

"I don't really scare easily," Norman replied. "I mostly just kind of find it fascinating. A lot of it is commentary on people in general, so it's interesting to see how those metaphors stand up."

A pause.

"I mean, since this place gives people actual zombies and things to compare to..."

Norman.

[hernando_fuentes]

"I do," Hernando said simply, "Less so now that I have met a real vampire." Who was a nice, pleasant person. "I've seen the zombies at Caritas, they are not scary. I feel sorry for them that their parts fall off so much. Ghosts, I have not seen but the dead coming back.. well, the island did that not so long ago also. It is the ..regular people.. in the books that are sometimes the most awful thing about the book."

[always_someone]

Norman nodded a tiny bit.

"Most ghosts are just here because they're confused," he murmured. "They died suddenly and they haven't really accepted that it's time to go, yet. Or else they have something that needs to get done. Unfinished business, you know? Or they just, like, left the oven on."

So many times, he had to take care of stuff like that. So many.

[hernando_fuentes]

"This is similar to how I was taught, in Mexico. We revere our dead and should they choose to stay by us awhile, it is up to us to find out why or to be thankful." Hernando considered quietly for a moment, "I think sometimes it is not the dead who have not accepted that it is time to go but the living who cannot yet bring themselves to let them go."

He shrugged with both palms, "Who could say?"

[always_someone]

Norman could say. He smiled, just the tiniest bit.

"Maybe sometimes it's a little of both?"

His grandma, for example, was still haunting his family's home because she'd promised she would always be there for him. And Norman was perfectly happy with that arrangement. He just wished she had been able to come to the island with him, too. He breathed out a soft laugh as he looked back down at Dave.

"Grandma likes to tell me that it's because there's no canasta in Heaven."

[hernando_fuentes]

"Very probably it is a little of both," Hernando agreed. He smiled back, "I would imagine Heaven should be very boring without the hobbies one is used to. If I could not dance there, I should not wish to stay either."

His smile turned a little more amused, "One of the students saw my store working and believed it to be haunted. If it is, it is by a very benign and helpful ghost." He patted the counter, "But I do not believe it is. The store is just a very good store and it is on an island where it can be accepted."

Hernando really loved his store.

[always_someone]

"This island has enough going on without having to blame it all on ghosts anyway," Norman noted. "And..." He glanced again at the shades where once ghosts had been. "... So far, this place doesn't seem to be haunted, exactly. Maybe by memories."

[hernando_fuentes]

"I do not mind if it is," Hernando shrugged a shoulder, "As I say, they are very benign and cause no trouble if they are here and I should never begrudge anyone, alive or otherwise, access to tea and lovely art."

Priorities.

[always_someone]

"Ghosts can't really drink tea," Norman mused, idly, but he was smiling anyway. "But I'm sure if there were any, they'd appreciate being made to feel welcome."

[hernando_fuentes]

"Can they not? Well. All the more reason to make them welcome where they can vicariously enjoy tea by observing others," Hernando said. He wasn't teasing. Just simply that much of a marshmallow.

[always_someone]

"I guess if... ghost tea was a thing," Norman replied. "Now I kind of want to figure out if there's some way to make ghost tea, though. I'm sure a lot of ghosts would appreciate that."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando raised his eyebrows, "If you do, please let me know. I would put it on the menu."

He was serious, it should be noted.

[always_someone]

"It would be pretty popular, I think," Norman said, thoughtfully. "One of my teachers is a ghost. His biggest complaint about it is the total lack of physical sensation. Taste, smell, touch..."

[hernando_fuentes]

"Tea would accomplish all three," Hernando noted. "The sensation of drinking, a pleasant aroma and a delicious taste."

[always_someone]

Norman nodded his agreement.

"So it might be something worth... trying to figure out, at least," he mused, a little distracted as the small quokka got its fill and shuffled aside to let the next in line step up for a scratching. "I mean, there has to be some way to do it. Grandma managed to take her knitting with her."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando wasn't unaware of what Norman was saying about his grandmother but did not think it worth questioning or commenting on since the boy seemed to welcome her spirit.

"Kindness is usually worth the effort, yes," he agreed.

Dave, it should be noted, was not giving up the hand he had claimed for scritches