“Tell me about them later so I can nap?”
I laugh. I don’t know whether I should take this as I am boring, or comforting. Either way, it works for me on some level. I exit the car and Cherie follows close behind me. Almost as if I am some sort of shield for her against the outside world.
I hold the door open behind me so that she can shadow me into the building. I recognize my old boss behind the counter. It has been a while.
“Bobby Saito…” I say as I enter in. “I thought you hated working checkout.”
“Ethan?” The elderly Asian man says as he folds his arms and looks unhappy. “I wouldn’t have to if C-Shapes would stop stealing all of my employees!”
“I look down at my badge and nod. “Sorry about that.”
“It is fine,” Bobby says as he smiles and reaches his hand across the counter. “It’s good to see you doing well.”
“It’s good to see you again.”
Bobby turns to the girl hiding behind me. “Is she one of the…”
I nod in reply. “We’ll be in and out pretty quickly, if that’s alright with you.”
“Yeah…” Bobby says with a heavy sound of hesitation in his voice. “You can handle this right… I mean if… you know.”
“We will be fine,” I assure him.
“You’re trained for this,” He says as he nods and finally concedes. “I trust you, I’m alright with this.”
“Thank you,” I say as I nod and grab a small shopping cart.
“So what do you feel like having,” I ask as I look behind me and see Cherie meekly following behind me, looking around like a terrified squirrel attempting to cross a busy street.
“We don’t need much. Remember we’re leaving for Paris on Sunday,” Cherie whispers as we continue down the aisles.
“How about I just pull the cart behind me and you just toss in whatever you want,” I say as I begin to drag the cart rather than push it.
I hear a few items fall into the cart, and to my surprise—so far they are not French fries, or French bread or French toast. Instead she has put some cans of soup, cereal, and potato chips. We reach the bread aisle and a mother and son who are shopping spot us. The boy, about eleven if I had to guess, points towards Cherie and yells freak and runs to his mother’s side. They give us a look as though we are the scum of the earth and continue onto the next aisle.
“Why did he do that?”
“It’s my badge,” I say as I shake my head and force myself to look about as sad as I actually feel on the inside. “It isn’t very fashionable and you know kids these days… they’re all about fashion. You know, the blue and white badge doesn’t go well with my grey shirt.”
“I thought it looked fine,” Cherie says as she pats me on the back. “Kids are so rude these days.”
When we reach the frozen foods section, she does end up getting French fries. About four bags worth. I begin to wonder what shopping light actually means, or if this is just an impulse purchase. She gets eggs and bread; I surmise it is also for French toast. However she has purchased enough regular food that I will not object.
“You got everything you need?”
Cherie gives the cart a once over and nods. It is full of food, a lot more than just for a few days… I think very little of it as C-Shapes is paying the bill anyway.
“So how has business been?” I ask Bobby as he begins to scan the items and place them into paper bags.
“How has business been?” Cherie repeats from behind me.
“I can’t complain—well I could but you heard enough of it for years,” he says with a laugh. “No, honestly, things have been good. I remarried, just last week, you remember that girl I had that off and on thing with… and although we both lost someone on V-Day, we’re making it work.”
“V… Day. We’re making it work.” Cherie adds.
“That’s good, that’s great even,” I say as I nod.
“Is she—what are they called again…? You don’t really see many like her.”
“Don’t see many like her…”
“A Mirror…” I whisper as I lean in.
“A Mirror,” Cherie whispers as she leans in.
I shake my head at my failed attempt to be sneaky.
“I heard that only like eight percent of all the Unstables ended up as Mirrors.” Bobby says as curiosity overcomes his previous hesitations.
“…ended up as Mirrors,” Cherie says as she looks at the man and nods for no particular reason that I can tell.
“It’s good to meet you miss,” Bobby says as he extends a hand across the counter. “My name is Bobby Saito. Your Sitter used to work for me.”
“Good to meet you miss…” Cherie says as she shakes the man’s hand. “Name is Bobby Saito… used to work for me.”
“Her name is Cherie,” I say as I uncomfortably laugh at the odd exchange. “She’s quite capable of having a completely normal conversation—she just gets caught up in these loops sometimes. If we stop talking for a while, she’ll kind of reset herself—if that makes any sense.”
“…gets caught up in these loops sometimes—if that makes any sense.”
Bobby nods as he continues to work in silence and bags up the groceries. He carries them and places the bags into my cart. I slide my phone over the scanner on the counter to complete the transaction. When Cherie does not mimic this action, I figure that enough time has passed.
“So yeah,” I say as I turn to Cherie. “This is my old boss.”
“It’s good to meet you Bobby Saito,” Cherie says as she smiles.
“You recall what happens during your loops?” He asks out of genuine curiosity.
“Usually yes,” Cherie says as she pauses for a moment. “Sometimes not… it depends I think. I’m not really sure how I work—or don’t work.”
“So what do you think of your Sitter here, he’s a pretty stand up guy, right?” Bobby says as he jabs me playfully against my work badge.
“He is a great Sitter,” Cherie says as she nods emphatically. “We’re leaving for Paris on Sunday.”
“Is that so?” He asks. “I’m sure you two will have a great time. I’ve never been personally, but I heard it is a wonderful place to visit.”
I’m sure he knows that this is impossible as there is no way anyone travels these days, I don’t even think they allow Unstables to board airplanes… I know they already ban them from buses and movie theaters, even with Sitters. However, I appreciate him humoring the idea.
“We’ll stop back in when we return,” Cherie says as she nods and smiles as we make our way out. I open up the door for Cherie, and after popping open the trunk I turn on the air conditioning. It is far too hot for her to be sitting in the passenger seat in her outfit.
As I am loading the groceries, Bobby runs out from the building and catches me and helps me put in a few of the bags.
“I got it handled,” I say as I smile at the older man.
“I just wanted to say that it was good to see you again,” he adds as he places an arm around me. “I didn’t know they could be like that—the TV makes them all out like they are monsters. I just wanted to thank you for showing me that they all aren’t. Lately it seems like everything is just gloom and doom, end of the world type of stuff. It’s nice to be shown another side.”
“I really appreciate that Bobby,” I say as I give the man a quick hug. “I think we both needed to have some kindness pointed our way… it hasn’t been easy.”
As we begin to head home, I notice a local restaurant that I used to eat at all the time after work—used to love their omelets. I pull into the parking lot and immediately notice a sign that hangs in the window that says ‘no Unstables.’ I do not remember it being there—I wonder if it was always that way and I just hadn’t noticed. I suddenly get an idea. It is not a terribly great one, but for me… it’s a good one.