Fiction: "The 5 & Dime"
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 06:47![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fatrockstarAndy walked down Main street with his hands in the pockets of his faded denim jacket, wondering if the 5 & 10 had his favorite candy bar in stock. It was the highlight of his morning ritual to stop at the forgotten drugstore and pick up a Sky Bar on his way to class. He looked forward to seeing Miss Vera sitting behind the counter with her newspaper as he walked in even though she never looked up at him. As far back as he could remember she always sat on that little footstool and talked to him from behind the latest edition of The Enquirer, always absorbed in the pages, but fully aware of any and all activity in her shop (a fact proven by a foiled shoplifting attempt when Andy was eleven).
“You won’t find anything here today, hon,” Miss Vera said from behind her magazine. “J.D. lost his glasses last week and didn’t place the candy order in time – we got plenty of Mounds bars, though. Maybe you could take a couple of those to tide you over ‘til the truck comes ‘round again on Thursday?”
Ugh. Mounds bars, thought Andy. She’s been trying to sell those forever. He pictured the cocoa butter in the chocolate coating turning the entire bar an unhappy shade of tan. “I’ll pass on those today, Miss V.”
“Are you sure? We got plenty of ‘em…”
“I’m sure. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As he left the 5 & 10, Andy muttered horrible things about J.D. under his breath. J.D. was not only Miss Vera’s little brother, he was also a notorious drunk. Everyone in Carthage knew his favorite drink, his favorite bar, and what he was most likely to do after the seventh bottle made him brazen. Luckily, J.D. was not a complete idiot, and Carthage was small enough to walk home from any tavern within city limits, including any he could find on the Redwater Indian reservation North of town.
It was always assumed that Miss Vera employed her brother because his notoriety severely inhibited employment elsewhere, but this was not the case. The 5 & 10 had been a part of Carthage since J.D. and Miss Vera’s grandfather opened it in 1955. After Charlie “Pop” Morton retired, he passed the shop on to his son, Johnnie, who wasted no time losing it to a gambling debt. It struggled for five years before Johnnie’s sister Kate attracted the new owner’s attention and married him, regaining the family business in the process. Ten years after that she retained it in the divorce decree. By that time, J.D. and Vera were old enough to run the store by themselves for days at a time while Kate visited friends in Pensacola. When Kate passed away her children inherited equal shares of the business. It only looked like the store was Miss Vera's. In truth, it was Miss Vera who kept it running -- J.D. did all the grunt work by default.
“You won’t find anything here today, hon,” Miss Vera said from behind her magazine. “J.D. lost his glasses last week and didn’t place the candy order in time – we got plenty of Mounds bars, though. Maybe you could take a couple of those to tide you over ‘til the truck comes ‘round again on Thursday?”
Ugh. Mounds bars, thought Andy. She’s been trying to sell those forever. He pictured the cocoa butter in the chocolate coating turning the entire bar an unhappy shade of tan. “I’ll pass on those today, Miss V.”
“Are you sure? We got plenty of ‘em…”
“I’m sure. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As he left the 5 & 10, Andy muttered horrible things about J.D. under his breath. J.D. was not only Miss Vera’s little brother, he was also a notorious drunk. Everyone in Carthage knew his favorite drink, his favorite bar, and what he was most likely to do after the seventh bottle made him brazen. Luckily, J.D. was not a complete idiot, and Carthage was small enough to walk home from any tavern within city limits, including any he could find on the Redwater Indian reservation North of town.
It was always assumed that Miss Vera employed her brother because his notoriety severely inhibited employment elsewhere, but this was not the case. The 5 & 10 had been a part of Carthage since J.D. and Miss Vera’s grandfather opened it in 1955. After Charlie “Pop” Morton retired, he passed the shop on to his son, Johnnie, who wasted no time losing it to a gambling debt. It struggled for five years before Johnnie’s sister Kate attracted the new owner’s attention and married him, regaining the family business in the process. Ten years after that she retained it in the divorce decree. By that time, J.D. and Vera were old enough to run the store by themselves for days at a time while Kate visited friends in Pensacola. When Kate passed away her children inherited equal shares of the business. It only looked like the store was Miss Vera's. In truth, it was Miss Vera who kept it running -- J.D. did all the grunt work by default.
