"You didn't bring anymore trashbags full of dead things today, did you?*" Mr. Kaska was at the counter, arranging a new counter display when Nadia walked in. One glance was all he needed to know exactly who had walked in the door. It had been a couple days since Nadia had been called in to work, and she was a little worried that he'd been cross with her for bring a dead and fairly mangled kitten back with him. It was hard to tell when Mr. Kaska was cross about something. Rather, he always appeared to be cross.
In response to his sardonic question, Nadia simply shook her head.
"No sir." She replied, approaching the counter. As she approached, she saw the kitten. It appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the counter. It was wonderful craftsmanship. In fact, if she hadn't seen it herself, she'd hardly believed the state it was in when she brought it in was possible. With a small smile on her face she lightly stroked the still creature. A few seconds passed, and Kaska simply sighed.
"Just call first next time. And wear gloves, for crying out loud if you're going to be touching bleeding animals." He shook his head, scratching his neck in irritation. But there was something...appreciative about the tone, somehow. Nadia couldn't quite place it. And the result was so beautiful, she couldn't possible be upset about his reaction.
"It's beautiful, Mr. Kaska." She told him, wide eyes following him as he headed through the door back to his office. He stopped for a moment, and shook his head, but Nadia could swear there was a ghost of a smile on his face.
As he left her to her own devices, she left her bag behind the counter as usual, and began dusting the shelves that she hadn't dusted the time before. There were only a couple customers for the first few hours, and by the mid point of her shift, she found herself dusting the other side of the store. It was amazing how much dust accrued in some areas after just a couple of days.
Light was filtering in from outside, casting the small shop in hues of hold and bronze. Nadia relished the silence, and sat on the sill of the shop's large display window and watched people passing on the street. Seeing their faces as they tried to avoid looking at the shop, or the fascinated faces of children who reached out to drag fingers along the pane of glass. When did adults lose that sense of formless wonder, she asked herself, and how could she make sure she retained it? Watching through the glass made her realize how much it needed a good cleaning. So, she stood and head back to the counter, but there weren't any cleaning supplies for glass on the shelves behind it.
She looked at the door that led back to the offices and contemplated it for a moment. She'd never strayed back there. she'd never been expressly told that she
couldn't. But without a reason, she felt like it was some kind of intrusion. But, this might be a good excuse to find out what was back there.
Curiosity freshly piqued, Nadia crept through the doorway. In the silence, she felt like a thief in the night for some reason, like she was entering a sacred, forbidden space. Looking for lost treasure? Honestly, the things her overactive mind came up with...
As she moved down the short hallway, she found herself surrounded by office...stuff. A cluttered, unused desk to the right, an industrial printer to her left. Both piled with documents and leaflets. The sound of key clicking alerted her that Kaska was in the room to the left after the printer, and she knocked lightly on the door frame before she poked her head in.
"I was wondering how long it was going to take you before you poked your inquisitive nose back here." Kaska remarked in a dry, but clearly amused tone. He hadn't turned to look at her, but he could see her in the reflection on his...not one, not two, but three computer screens. They were covered from one side to the other with windows, internet tabs, and what looked like a text editing program.
"What is it you do back here?" She asked, momentarily forgetting her true purpose.
"Also, do you have any glass cleaner?"Kaska chuckled like a cough.
"Shameless, aren't you? It's not a bad thing in the right situations." He remarked, still clicking away. Then he stopped, and spun around.
"I'm sure you've noticed that the shop isn't exactly a one-stop shop. I can't afford to keep this place open, let alone sustain myself, off of just this shop's profits. So this..." He pointed to the screen.
"Is my real job. I code programs, apps, and webpages. You could say this is my "real" job. That's why I hired you, so I can dedicate more time to this."Nadia, feeling a little less like a thief and more like a guest, ventured into the room a step, and looked around at the piled books, various office supplies, and other reference material. On the walls of the office were a couple outdated Anime posters. Nadia lingered on them a moment, feeling like they were out of place, and yet at the same time, she could see this man watching things like that.
"Why do you keep the shop open if it doesn't make money? wouldn't you be better off if you just focused on the coding."Kaska sat back in his chair and shrugged.
"Because I want to. I don't lose that much, considering my family has owned this building for years, I just pay upkeep on it, and the Loft above it." Nadia looked up, as if she could see the loft through the ceiling now that she knew about it.
"So, you live and work here?""I used to. But now I have a slightly bigger place. The loft is empty..." He followed her still upward gaze, watching the gears tick behind her eyes.
"What's you're interest? You're a bit young to be living alone.""it's complicated." She replied truthfully, with a shrug.
"But yes...I was looking to find something a bit more private than my current situation."Kaska opened his mouth to talk, but a chime of the counter bell distracted both of them. Nadia, startled, moved to leave.
"We'll talk." he offered her as she left, and returned to his work.
Nadia greeted the customer at the counter with a bright smile, but stopped short a few feet from the counter. Standing on the other side was her Bridgett, from the Inn. She was looking around, seeming a little creeped out.
"You really are working here, Nadia! I heard you'd gotten yourself another job. For such a shut-in, you're really kind of a work-a-holic. Just like that other girl you brought in...**""Bridgett...hello." Nadia offered a small smile.
"I wouldn't have expected you to come here.""Honestly, I was just shopping in the area and thought I'd see if the rumor was true. Man...This place is creepy...but it's perfect for you. Not that you're creepy, or anything."Nadia smiled a rueful smile.
"I'm a little creepy. it's okay." Both girls laughed.
Nadia did her best to idly chit chat with Bridgett for a few minutes, before going back to retrieve the window-cleaner from the back this time. When she came back in from cleaning the shop window, Mr. Kaska was writing on something on the counter, with a look of dour concentration.
As she approached, he spun the paper around facing her.
"...Fill this out. Application fee is $25 non-refundable." Nadia looked down at the piece of paper, and it took her a long moment before she really realized what it was. It was a renter's application. She looked up at him, eyes wide in surprise.
"Are you sure?""Don't look so surprised. I was thinking about renting it out anyway. This way I can just pay you less instead of charging rent, which takes a bunch of steps out of my process. You don't look like the kind to have wild parties, so I don't have to worry about noisy tenants interfering with the shop. Plus, I can leave stuff like opening the shop and closing it up to you. Hell, I could probably just not come in some days. So really, this is just me being lazy."Everything he said made sense to her and yet...she couldn't help but be grateful. This gave her everything she needed...She could be much more self-sufficient this way. She wanted to hug him, but as there was a counter in the way, and it would likely break decorum, she instead simply paid the application fee and smiled at him.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Kaska...Thank you.""Geeze, don't get weepy. I like it better when you're drawing skulls."---------------------
* See "
Happy Little Accidents"
** See "
Two People with No Social Skills Break into a House"
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