Chapter Three
January Twenty Four
Juniper
“How did you sleep last night?”
Brittanya started the car but no noise was made as it rolled out of the driveway.
“Alright.”
June didn’t feel like explaining what it’s like to justify your actions to yourself when you didn’t need to. When someone can’t hurt you anymore, they still haunt you, they still keep you up at night.
“Oh good. How exciting is this?”
Brittanya asked as she pulled out of the driveway.
“Um,”
June sat with her hands balled in her lap, “I guess.”
Being in a new environment, alone, wasn’t a problem, she was used to being uncomfortable and alone. June was experiencing a glimmer of optimism. This was new and it fought with her dark thoughts. “What happened to your old roommate?”
“What do you mean?”
Brittanya’s long hair vibrated against the seat due to her window being down.
“Like, didn’t someone live in that room before me?”
“Well yeah, Emma. She got married a few months ago, so she lives with her husband now.”
The car pulled into a small shopping center with various shops including Sixth Street Clothing Company. Brittanya put the car in park. “Alright, you have your phone right?”
Juniper patted her pocket, “Yes.”
“Great, I’ll call you at three or just be out here.”
“You have my phone number?”
“Yes, I got yours yesterday, It was automatically programmed.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and if two chips connect three times for more than ten minutes, they automatically exchange numbers. But you can also add or block numbers as well. What did they tell you about the chip?”
“Just that it’s used for the bus, doors, money and my information.”
“Oh.”
Brittanya’s expression flattened.
“What?”
Juniper leaned in.
“There’s just a rumor that it is also a tracker.”
June’s head shot back, “What?”
“Not in like, a bad way. Say you get lost or they need to get a hold of you, nothing crazy. A few years ago there was a man who went missing and it took them only two hours to find him. He was over a mile off the shore! Just floating.”
The air stilled as Brittanya took a few breaths, “But I do not want to make you late on your first day, do you need me to walk you in?”
“No.”
June smirked, “Thank you though.”
She opened the door and slid out.
“Wait! I have one small surprise for you.”
She reached in the back seat pulling out a brown sack, “I made you lunch.”
June reached in and grabbed it, “Thank you! I didn’t even think of that.”
“I’m running low on food, we can go shopping together after work when I pick you up.”
“That sounds good.”
June smiled a goodbye and closed the door.
Stepping on the curb she faced the shop, sandwiched between two other businesses. She took a deep inhale and let out every bit of it before stepping forward. The door let out a ding as she stepped inside. A few circle racks with dresses of all colors and lengths hung with light hitting their bedazzled sequences. A wall of materials draped along the back and suits sat uniform along the left wall. A feeling of relief came over June as she saw the nicer material than what she had worked with before, the floors were clean and the feel of the place was overall unreal.
“Hello?”
A tall thin man came from the back, “Look at you standing there all quiet, you must be Juniper.”
“Yes, that's me.”
June gripped her bagged lunch.
“Nice to meet you Sug, I am Golden Huffman. The man in charge of all this,”
He motioned to the four walls, “And I will also be in charge of you. You ready?”
June nodded and his body weight shifted from one foot to the other setting his fast pace walk in motion towards the back. “Let’s get you clocked in.”
Passing six sewing stations, Golden stopped in front of a computer on the seventh desk. “Okay, to clock in you press well, clock in, duh. This screen will come up and then you just place your palm on the pad. So go ahead.”
June followed his instructions and the pad turned green, a screen came up, beeping she had clocked in.
“We will be slow for a month or two, because we are a formal store, but we do have the annual ball coming up in May. So that means alterations, sales, new dresses.”
His fingers counted along, “Let me give you a quick tour before you get started.”
She followed him back out to the open floor, “This rack is all our sample dresses, if you design one we love, it will make it here for custom design. We do have some for sale on the other racks, those get rung up behind the counter,”
His hand circled the room, “We have kids next to that and accessories,”
he turned on his heel, “and last we have our tuxes here.” Both of his hands motioned to the wall, “We do all our sewing in the back and through that door,” he pointed next to the work room, “is a break room and the bathroom, so let’s drop off our emotional support sack back there, shall we?” He motioned to Juniper's lunch.
“Oh, sure. Does anyone else work here?”
She followed him towards the break room.
“Yes, four others do. But I don’t like them working when I have a new hire. I like to have one on one time.”
June opened the almost empty fridge, “Oh, okay.”
“Let’s get you set up.”
*****
“Goodbye Golden,”
June waved into the building as she entered the parking lot. Nine steps later and she was grabbing onto the car door and sliding in.
“Hey!”
Brittanya cheerfully smiled at her. “How was work?”
“It was good! Golden is nice.”
She smiled, “I wasn’t worried.”
The car started and she turned it in the direction of The Supply Store around the corner. “Let’s get some food.”
“Wait,”
June paused looking at Brittanya, “How do I check my money balance?”
“On your phone.”
They dipped in the gutter as she pulled into the small parking lot. “I can show you in just a second.”
She spun the car into a spot and placed it into park. “Here, hand me your phone.”
Brittanya held out her hand. Juniper willingly placed her phone down in her upright palm. “Well, turn it on first.”
“Oh,”
June responded, “ Can only I turn it on?”
“Well, I could try but it only turns on when the chip in your hand connects to it.”
Brittanya accepted the phone and scrolls down. “Right here,”
She flashed the phone to Juniper. “This little box here, you press it and it shows you your balance.”
“Oh okay, so no passwords?”
“Nope. Nice work today, including your ‘welcome bonus’ you have two hundred and seventeen credits.”
Juniper grabbed the phone and stared at the screen before turning it off. “Is that a lot here?”
“It’s a nice start.”
Brittanya unbuckled her seat belt and opened her door, “Let’s get this going.”
Juniper followed her lead.
Entering The Supply Store, Brittanya grabbed a cart at the entrance placing her bag on the hook below the handlebar. “Okay, the way this works, because of limited food, like produce, meat and dairy, you can’t get a lot of it, like stock up. Your chip determines how much you can get based on the last time you got it, kind of like rations. I am allowed one pound of beef and two pounds of chicken a week, I’m sure yours is similar. Some people do barter and trade for their dietary wants. If you need to have more or less, I’m sure you can talk to The Council about it.”
They walked down the first aisle, everything seemed old fashion with the shelves full of homemade bread, rolls, muffins and sweets. It reminded June of a farmers market she once attended with her family before the war. “One thing that does help, is say, I can’t eat all this bread before it goes bad, so I can buy it and you could buy something else we can share. Does that make sense?”
Brittanya held a loaf of unsliced bread in brown wrapping. Seven credits.
“Yeah.”
June made eye contact after observing the shelves. Brittanya placed the bread in the cart and continued pushing as she followed alongside her. They turned the corner and everything seemed as it should be, the picture perfect store. Fear was always pounded into society and lies were the governments go to. Instead of rationing they just ‘didn’t have it’. June and Brittanya continued their shopping and June relearned how to grocery shop in this new society.
When they reached the check out, June turned to Brittanya, “Do you think I’ll have enough credits to buy a slice of pie from the first aisle?”
Brittanya looked at the cart and then at June , “I’m not good at math Brittanya.”
“Yes, I don’t see how seventeen items would wipe out your credits.”
“I’ll go grab one,”
June turned and darted for the aisle as Brittanya started loading the conveyor belt. She turned the corner and found the three tier table with sweets. June loved pie, she loved most baked goods but pie always was her weakness and it would be the first time in six years that she would be able to have some. She saw a strawberry glazed slice with a graham cracker crust and picked it up to head to the register. June got back just in time to drop it behind her last few items to be rung up.
“You’re new!”
The cashier smiled at Juniper.
“Uh, yeah. I am.”
June hadn’t realized she would be ‘the new girl’ and everyone would know who was new and who was local. She dreaded the spotlight.
“Welcome! I love your hair by the way.”
“Thank you.”
June blushed and couldn’t help to look at her soft dark hair over her shoulder.
Wolfgang
His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his gym shorts. Wolfgang turned it on and sighed at the sender.
Shianne ‘Hey Wolfie! Are you going to Community Day tomorrow?’
Wolfgang paused before responding. He’s already told Shianne he wasn’t interested, she just wouldn’t give up and he didn’t feel like he should be a dick to her because of that.
Wolfgang ‘I’m not sure. I’m leaning more towards no, I’ve never had fun at those.’
Shianne ‘I’ll be there if you change your mind.’
Wolfgang ‘Haha alright. We’ll see.’
He tossed his phone on his bed and pushed back his dark hair that hung over his brow, blowing out a breath of frustration. Wolfgang didn’t like Shianne, they grew up together. Even with limited options, he couldn’t see himself with her. Shianne was relentless. Maybe she’ll find someone at Community Day.