She was always afraid that even her trusted Holly would let a vintage piece slip by. Usually when they went through boxes, what wasn’t kept went to the shelter at Sacred Heart a few blocks away. The last thing Carole wanted to see, she always said, ‘was a homeless person in a Dolce and Gabbana overcoat’. As a percentage of all the store’s profits went to charity, it wasn’t that Carole wasn’t charitable, she was just obsessive.
Holly put her hand on her boss’s shoulder, ‘Oh, you are such a control freak, I can handle it. I’ll go through one box at a time at the desk, OK?’
Carole stood with her lips pursed.
‘And if I’m not sure about a piece I’ll call you, but I am usually pretty good at spotting the tags from Walmart.’ Holly grinned and gave her shoulder a little shake. ‘It’ll be fine, I promise.’
Carole laughed nervously. ‘I know, you’ll be fine and that’s great, you can call me. I’m sorry sweetie, I just get wound up at the holidays.’
Holly smiled. ‘We all do - that’s why there's eggnog. I'll take a box out with me now, all right? You go do what you have to do.’
She loved having Carole as a boss, but she also loved having the shop to herself now and then.
‘You're right, I will.’ Carole pecked Holly on the cheek. ‘Oh, did you call UPS about the bracelet?’
‘Not yet, but it’s on my list.’
‘Great. I want to make a decision on whether or not we can sell that jacket. If it happened to get there by mistake …’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You and I both know there’ll be hell to pay.’
But as it turned out the UPS service lines were jammed all morning, and try as she might, Holly couldn’t get anyone to answer her call.
So, during lunch, she decided to take a walk over to the nearest UPS store and see if she could get her query dealt with in person.
As she walked, a blast of icy wind hit her in the face. The weather had certainly turned colder today.
Reaching the address, Holly pulled open the door to the brightly lit store and was immediately comforted by the rush of warm air. Somewhat less comforting was the long line of customers who were waiting, albeit begrudgingly, for their turn with the sole – and seemingly harried– store clerk.
She sighed. So much for being quicker in person…
Still, it was all a necessary evil. Holly prayed that if – heaven forbid – she ever lost her charm bracelet, it would fall into the hands of someone who would try to return it to her.
‘It’s all good karma – especially at this time of year,’ she muttered to herself, taking her place at the end of the line. ‘Season of goodwill … pay it forward and all that.’
Hearing her words, the man who was standing in front of her turned around quickly. He looked her up and down and she smiled politely at his frowning face.
‘Pay it forward?’ he barked. ‘I wish this line wouldmoveit forward. Bunch of holiday bullshit, can’t get anything done quickly.’ He turned back around and Holly took a deep breath.
She plucked the charm bracelet out of her purse and studied it for what seemed to be the hundredth time since stumbling across it yesterday. She turned each of the individual charms over in her fingers and wondered if the owner of the bracelet had collected her charms with the same intention that Holly had done over the years, by associating a special moment or memory with each new addition.
Interesting that this was the second time in her life that a mysterious bracelet had appeared out of the blue.
She thought again about the initial appearance of her own bracelet and how she’d tried to work out the significance of that first charm, and indeed who had sent it to her.
Lost in thought, Holly eventually looked up and was happy to see that she was next in line. However, she was not so happy to see that the angry man in front of her was now making the UPS clerk’s life hell.
‘What do youmeanyou can’t have it delivered by then? You are friggin’ UPS!’ Angry Man bellowed.
The clerk held out her hands, looking exhausted. ‘I’m sorry, sir, we have our drivers working overtime this time of year and—’
‘But that’s not good enough!’ the man yelled. Holly couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for him. Someone should tell him that you always catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. She looked past the man’s shoulder as he continued his verbal abuse and tried to make eye contact with the clerk. The young woman looked dangerously close to tears.
‘You people are a bunch of morons! This is the last time I come here for anything. From now on it’s the other guys or nothing!’ The man threw up his arms and looked around, centring his gaze on Holly. ‘Good luck lady. Pay it forward, my ass!’ He hurtled through the store, slamming the glass door behind him. Holly grimaced as she watched the clerk try to recompose herself. She stepped forward gingerly. While she adored this time of year, she also hated the fact that the holiday season also seemed to bring out the worst in some people.
‘Are you OK?’ she asked kindly. ‘Maybe this weather will help cool him off.’
‘Thanks. It’s been a long day,’ the woman said with a shaky voice.
‘I’m sure it has,’ Holly soothed. ‘It’s this time of year. It brings out the beauty in some and the ugliness in others. I’ve always said that everyone should, at some point in their lives, be required to work in retail or at a restaurant. It teaches a good lesson in how you should treat others.’ She smiled warmly at the young woman whose name tag read ‘Lila’.
