Chapter 21 #2
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Mairead is already moving around my tent, oohing and awing over everything she touched.
“I love your accent, where are you originally from?” I inquire.
“Here originally, but I’ve been in Ireland the past couple years. I guess an accent has set in, during my time away.”
I politely nod and smile, “well, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Sorry… if you would excuse me.”
Someone holds three bracelets and a hat, ready to pay.
While I check out the customer, I can hear Mairead chatting with her father about how amazingly talented I was.
She’s a very sweet girl, odd, but sweet.
I try not to stare as her father hands her a stack of bills, before he regards me with a tip of his hat and continues, down the row of tents.
Mairead giggles and places down a hundred-dollar bill.
I watch as she removes the shimmering jacket with two hand-painted porpoises, off the mannequin and squeezes it to her body with a high-pitch squeak.
Removing her black, furry coat, she places it onto the displayed ensemble and pulls on the jean jacket.
She spins and squeals with excitement, causing lots of looks from passersby.
“This is the best day of my life!” She exclaims, pulling me into another hug. “I’ll text you about going shopping next week!” Mairead rushes out.
“Wait, you paid too much! The jacket is only sixty-five.” But she is already skipping off toward the direction her father went.
Mairead also left her clothes behind, but I think that part was intentional.
The headless bust doesn’t look terrible with the long fur draped over the animal print miniskirt and screen printed top.
Although, if I had to guess, that coat is worth more than everything in this tent, including me!
During slower times over the course of the event, I desperately want to play music, but my earbuds are missing and all I have is this possessed tech that will not stop playing How Bizarre! Poking around in the settings on my cell phone, I manage to pair the purple starred earbud with my own phone.
I feel a pang of loss after completing the pairing, wondering if I would ever hear a song from my stalker again.
I couldn’t explain it, but it’s like having a one-way walkie talkie with your best friend next door.
When you are having a bad day or maybe you’re a tad bit afraid of the dark…
you knew someone was there with you. Sometimes they would talk, or play music in my case, but you weren’t completely detached from them.
I’m confused. Why do I care if I miss something?
I’m sure the lunatic will just mail me another one when he realizes he’s not getting his point across any longer.
Clearly, it’s a “he,” right? I mean, I’m not sexist, clearly a woman would be perfectly capable of being a stalker too, but I am team sausage, so I kind of thought the person in question would be male.
If I’m being honest, I hoped it was Eamon, but my gut told me this may be a completely different person.
A lot of the other booths are busier than mine, so I am happy with the little foldable stool and my tunes, while I wait for my next sale.
A teenage boy appears in my booth, just as I finish the sawdust tasting drink Andrea brought for me.
He seems nervous or uncomfortable, based on the way he picks up items, quickly places them down, then looks around for something.
“Can I help you find something?” I round the table to come closer to the nervous boy.
“Yeah, umm… how much for this black furry thing?” His voice cracks as he holds up the sleeve of the coat Mairead left behind.
I smile. “That’s actually a display piece, but if you like fur, I can show you this jacket on the rack over there.” I point to the rack full of clothes behind the table.
He nods, appearing happy with the offered help.
“Are you shopping for yourself or a friend?” I slide the hangers to the side as the tall lanky boy stands between me and the table.
“Friend!” He nearly shouts.
“Okaaay. Do you happen to know their size?” I lean forward between articles of clothing to check the tags of the inside of each piece, before lifting them off the rack for the customer to see.
“I have two pieces here with fur trim. One is large and the other is extra small.” I announce as I hold them up.
Oddly… the boy wasn’t in front of me anymore, he was running away? The little shit is fleeing from my booth with what looks like my purse!
“STOP!” I shout, fleeing my booth. The isle is so full of people there is no way I could tell which way he went.
“Little Shit!” I scream after him, standing in a crowd of potential shoppers that will probably be avoiding my booth for the rest of the day.
If I could have kids, I still would never have them!
I stomped back to my tent, so thankful that I removed my phone from my purse before the kid showed up.
“Goddamnit!” Any cash transactions I made today were in my purse, so the little thief made off with at least two hundred and fifty, plus my debit card, and license!