She startled again, this time her gaze landing quickly on the old man’s face, then the phone he held aloft like a grenade he was about to pull the pin out of.
She rocked back, body poised to flee, but hesitated. The fear on her was palpable. I could almost see the fast beating of her heart from here. But just when I thought she’d scurry off, she settled her shoulders and tipped her whole body back toward the open doorway.
“My backpack,” she said, and there was an accent to it I couldn’t place. “Dan left my backpack here.”
The man scowled. “I don’t need your trouble. I don’t need your lies. Go.”
“He left it,” the girl insisted, the toes of one foot sliding over the threshold, most of her still outside. “He left it here.”
“If it was left here, it’s mine now.”
I opened my mouth, but Lu beat me to it. “What does it look like?”
The girl inhaled. She didn’t breathe for the few seconds it took Lu to walk closer to her. Again I thought she’d run.
Lu left plenty of room between them, several feet. “The backpack,” Lu said. “What does it look like?”
“She’s not welcome here,” the man said.
I’d had enough. I strode to the counter and used my height and bulk to my advantage. “How about you leave her alone and ring up my purchases?”
The old man stood his ground—I had to give him credit for that. But he didn’t hold that ground for long.
“She’s not welcome in my shop,” he said.
“I heard. As you can see, she’s not in the shop. She’s in the doorway.”
He glared at me, and color crept up his face under the mottle of liver spots and veins. I wondered if he was going to yell or finally use that phone of his to call the sheriff.
I opened my wallet and thumbed out a few twenties, showing him there was more than enough.
That, finally, put his foot on the gas. He got busy ringing up the clothing and postcards, and I stayed right there, looming over him, putting myself between him and the girl in the doorway.
Lu made a quick once-through the shop, looking for the girl’s backpack, but I had another idea.
“You have a lost and found?”
“No.” His eyes cut to the side and down. There was something down there.
“Let me ask that again while I’m feeling charitable. How about you let me see the lost and found you keep below the counter?”
“I don’t have her damn bag,” he growled.
“Good. Then I don’t expect to see it when you pull the lost and found up from under the counter.”
“I don’t owe youpeopleanything.” He wadded the last pair of jeans and shoved them in a plastic bag with red writing on it that looked like it’d come from a Chinese food restaurant. “You should mind your own business and stay away from her kind.”
I glanced at the door and found the girl staring at me. Her night-shadow eyes were wide and liquid.
Hopeful. She looked hopeful.
Lu set a little statue of a rabbit, the magical bookmark, and a small blue backpack on the counter. “Add these to the total, please.”
I dropped another twenty on the counter with slow, purposeful motion.
“Wepeople,” I said, putting the emphasis in the same place he had, “have no quarrels with you.” I released the edge of the bill so that it snapped softly. “If you want it to stay that way, keep your judgement to yourself.”
The man narrowed his eyes, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
