“Although…” Elwood’s gaze caught mine. “Anyone could see that guywasan asshole. You deserved better. It just took you longer to figure that out thanI’dhoped.”
Usually, when Elwood made pointed comments about Josh—because he disliked Josh as much as Joshdislikedhim—I jumped in to defend Josh, but not anymore. Thiswasnew territory. I didn’t know what to say. Instead, I followed Elwood to his desk in silence, pretending that I needed to concentrateon getting my suitcases safely through the narrow aisles without knocking anything over.
Brooke, one of my grandfather’s unusual friends, stood beside the desk.
She’dbeen a part of my grandfather’s life for as long as I could remember. When she smiled at me, she flashed her pointy, piranha-like teeth at me. As a kid,Ialways wondered howshemadethem like that, and apparently, nothing had changed now that I was an adult.
Seriously, werethere dentists who filed people’s teeth for them?Werethey implants? Shehada whole aesthetic thatwasdecidedly offbeat, so maybe? She even dyed her hair green and styled it in clumps.
SomedayI’dask about all that, but not today.
“Hey, Brooke, how are you?”I returned her smile as I stepped around the sizable puddle shewasstanding in. Where her skin was damp, I swore it was iridescent. Perhaps it’d rained before my arrival, and the hot sun had already dried the streets.
I hoped she hadn’t peed on Elwood’s shop floor.
“I’m no longer called Brooke,”she said, lifting her chin.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,”I said.“What’s your name?”
“Tulip,”she said with a sharp nod. The skin on her neck fluttered weirdly. I tried not to stare.“I decided Brookewasa bad name. It would be like you being called Apartment instead of Declan. It doesn’t sound right. I live in the water. I shouldn’t be called the same thing.”
“Tulip. I like it.”Iwasn’tsure what else to say to her because her words made no sense.WasEnglish her second language? That might explain why she got her words mixed up. Although she didn’t have an accent…
“You didn’t tell me you’dchosenyour name. How wonderful. Tulip is a beautiful name for a beautiful mermaid,”Elwood said,smiling proudly at her as the mouse chittered excitedly. Elwood glanced at me.“She’s been experimenting with a few options.”
Wasmermaidsomething people called other people now? Like dear or love or princess? Then again, Elwoodwasalways saying kooky things like that—as if magic and magical creatures actually existed. Itwaspart of his charm. I never took it too seriously. I couldn’t. Even now, my father’s voice was in my head, telling me magic didn’t exist. When anything seemed outlandish or bizarre, he’d taught me it was just a trick of the light, a surrender to suggestion, or wishful thinking.
Tulip giggled, although with her, therewasalways a bit of a gurgling sound that accompanied it. She leaned close to me.“So, you’re having boy trouble?”
As a grown man, could I claimboytrouble? I nodded anyway.“Josh cheated on me.”
Tulip nodded. Her pale face pinched in a somber frown.“I understand completely.”She waved her strangely webbed hand toward the wall.“Winston dumped me last week. I wanted to lure him to my pond and drown him, but Elwood said that’d be wrong. Said everyone would know I killed him and that I wouldn’t do well in prison because they didn’t have a pond there.”She sighed, as if thatwasa huge inconvenience.
“You aren’t supposed to say things like that, remember?”Elwood said, patting Tulip’s hand.“People don’t always understand.”
“Winston? Who’s that?”I asked, pretending Tuliphadn’tconfessedto wanting to murder her ex.
“The man who bought the place next door,”Elwood said.“He’s been a menace ever since he got the keys.”
As if to prove the point, a resounding bang shook everything in the shop. On the next bang, something crashed to the floor on the other side of the room. Elwood scooped up his broom anddustpan and hurried over to where the accidenthadhappened. His sandals slapped against the tiled floor.
“With all this rattling about, I won’t have any inventory left,”Elwood complained as he pushed a few pieces further back on the shelves.
Honestly, I couldn’t see where the broken figurinehadfallenfrom.So, I didn’t think Elwood needed to start worrying about a lack of inventory quite yet.
Every surface in the shop was brimming with anything and everything you might expect in a mystical shop. Therewerecandles, crystal points, scrolls, herbs, colorful concoctions in exotic-looking bottles, books on magic and witchcraft, tarot and angel cards, runestones, tarnished-looking mirrors, little pouches, teeth, animal skulls, feathers, figurines, various iron and ceramic bowls, and who knew what else.
It would take a lot for him to run out of merchandise. Hehadtoo much for the space he allotted to his store. But a quick glance at the back of the store told me hestill hadn’t encroached on the meeting space yet. That just showed how much he valued providing that space to the community.
People rented it out for all kinds of reasons, including nonsensical things like angel card readings and seances. But my grandfather’s true passionwasin the support group meetings he held every week, where people got together and discussed their problems.They’ddubbedthemselves misfit monsters for reasons I didn’t understand. ButI’dalways liked knowing Elwoodhadpeople he could turn to if he needed help, especially when my parents and Ilivedso far away.
“Every time they bang about over there, the displays jiggle around,”Elwood continued as he bent to sweep up a broken dragon figurine.“I wishthey’dfinish already. I swear, if I didn’t know better,I’dthink theyweresearching for the treasure OldXalvador always went on about. But anyone with sense knew he exaggerated when he got into his cups.”
“Treasure?”Oh. That sounded interesting. Much more interesting than talking about Josh or thinking about Josh or anything else having to do with Josh. “But… didn’t he have a gift shop called The Kooky Nook, that everyone called the Nook? I remember Mister X having t-shirts for tourists,Funko Popfigures, and bobble heads. But nothing I’d classify as treasure.”
“That’s right. It doesn’t matter what Winston calls it when he opens his fancy wine store. It’ll always be the Nook.” Elwood dumped the shattered glass into the trash can behind his counter.“As for the treasure, there isn’t any. It’s hogwash. All of it. He said he lined his walls with gold, but that’s about as likely as my toenail clippings changing into rubies.”
The phone rang just as there was an unexpected lull in the banging next door.
