When I looked up, I noticed a customer who must have slipped into the shop as quiet as a mouse, carefully eyeing the Kinetoscope. I waved to Max and asked when he joined me, “Would you ring Nancy up for this feeding bottle and wrap it for her?”
“Sure thing,” he said.
“Thank you for your business,” I said to Nancy.
“Thank you for all of your help!”
Once the two left my side, I moved away from the display case and approached the new customer. “Hello. Ah, sorry, this isn’t for sale.” I patted the top of the Kinetoscope briefly.
I realized he was considerably younger than I’d pegged him to be at a distance. I usually had an uptick of college-aged customers come autumn, with students new to New York exploring the neighborhoods, some looking for odds and ends to spice up their dorm rooms, though a few came in for legitimate school research. I didn’t have anyone his age shop at the Emporium who wasn’t usually a student somewhere nearby. Although, it was May, and most terms had just ended… but I supposed he could have been enrolled in an early summer program at NYU or SVA.
He gave me an annoyed look. “I don’twantto buy it.”
“Was there anything I could help you with, then?”
“No.”
Snotty shit.
I sighed and rubbed the spot above my left eye where a headache was starting. “Okay.”
The kid looked around briefly. “Why do you have so much weird crap in here?”
“What constitutes as weird for you? Because some may think it mundane.”
He pointed at a framed photo hanging on a nearby wall. “Are those dancing skeletons?”
“The Arsenic Waltz,” I corrected. “It mocked the usage of arsenic in dyes for clothing during the nineteenth century.”
“What?” He looked confused. Or disgusted. I wasn’t sure.
“Arsenic is a poison.”
I glanced over my shoulder when I heard the bell ring at the shop door. Calvin stepped inside, with Dillon on a leash. The pup was probably thrilled to be out of the house and on a walk with his dad. Calvin pulled off a pair of sunglasses and hung them from his AC/DC shirt, which had to be nearly as old as me. He was wearing those ass-hugging jeans I loved and an old, beat-up pair of Vans sneakers. Calvin made home decorating look damn good.
“This place is like a basement full of useless shit.”
I turned back to my charming new friend. “Why’re you here?” I countered.
“I’m not—I’m leaving,” he said, as if between the two of us,Iwas the bigger asshole.
“By all means, the front door is right there.” I stepped sideways and motioned with both arms outstretched.
He took a brief look around the shop again but appeared increasingly frustrated as he did so. Like he had sincerely come hunting for something, didn’t want to admit to it, and was angry I didn’t have it—whateverthat might have been.
The kid finally shoved by me and made his way through the aisles toward the door. Calvin saw the push and looked at me, but I shook my head and waved my hand in a shooing motion.
Calvin moved aside, watched the brat storm out, and then joined me. “Who was that?” he asked, leaning down briefly to remove Dillon’s leash.
“The Future.”
He gave me an amused smile. “I see the inclination toward enjoying the company of our country’s youth skips a generation in your family.” He kissed me. “Why’d you call me here?”
“I like you.”
“Nice try.”
“You know how there’s no statute of limitation on murder?”
