Not Your Ordinary Alien Story

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Gasquet Market has been in Gasquet for decades with the same scuffed hardwood floors, the same counter to the right of the front door as you walk in, always a pile of firewood for sale on the front porch next to the cooler full of bags of ice. I have to work there for the next three days. What I really want to be doing is hiking back to the spot in the forest where the fallen redwood is, where the beacon is. 

If, that is, it really is a beacon.

In the middle of the day, on my third day working, Madison and Ashley come sauntering in. Blue, Ashley, and I went to Mountain Elementary School together here in Gasquet. Ashley used to be my friend. You couldn't really call her my friend anymore. Once we got into Del Norte High, and we had to start taking the bus into Crescent City, that's when Madison moved to town. That's when things changed between Ashley and I.

Madison turns and gives me her phony smile as her and Ashley walk into the market. Her blonde hair is smooth and perfect. Like her make-up. Like her fingernails and toenails painted with purple polish.

"We heard you were working here," Ashley says to me.

"Yeah," I nod my head.

They walk past me to the back of the store where the cold drinks are. I hear them whispering. I hear them giggling. I hear the door to the cooler case opening and closing. They walk back to the cash register. Madison sets a six-pack of wine coolers on the counter. She takes a twenty dollar bill out of the pocket of her cut offs. "How much?" she asks.

I look down at the six-pack. The drinks are red like fruit punch and there's beads of condensation on the glass bottles. "I can't sell that to you."

Madison tilts her head, a look of disbelief on her face. "Why not?"

"You know why. You gotta be 21 to buy alcohol."

She glances at Ashley. Then she looks back at me like she's trying to decide what tactic to take. Should she pretend to be nice, or just be her normal mean bossy self? She shoves the six-pack a few inches toward me. "You'll be fucking sorry if you don't let us buy it."

Obviously, normal-mean-bossy-self won out. "I can't," I tell her. "I'll lose my job."

Ashley places her hand on her waist. "So, whose gonna know?" She takes the scrunchy out of her hair, loose auburn curls falling around her face.

"I'm not taking a chance," I say. "It's not worth losing my job over."

Ashley reaches over and picks up the six-pack. "Come on," she says to Madison. "Fuck her. Let's just take it."

I give Ashley a hard stare. Her eyes look different from when we were kids in Mountain School. It's hard to believe we used to be friends.

I pick up the phone. "I wouldn't do that," I say as I start dialing. "You won't get far. My Mom's right next door. And it won't take George long to be here either."

Madison changes her voice to a high-pitched baby voice. "Mommy! I'm going to tell my mommy on you!"

The door opens and our neighbor, Larry, comes in, his belly lopping over his belt buckle, a day's growth of whiskers on his chin. . "Hey, Zoe," he says. "How's it going?"

I tap the phone off. Madison stuffs the twenty-dollar bill back in her pocket. She holds up her middle finger close to her chest, hidden from Larry as she mouths the words fuck you. Then she and Ashley walk out the door leaving the wine coolers on the counter.

                                           ****************

Blue calls me that night. I've been planning on going back to the clearing in the remote area of the forest for the past three days, and I want to go there tomorrow, but Blue talks me into going with him to visit his grandfather, Rocky. It's been a while since Blue and I have been over to see him. I've known Rocky since I was a kid; he's like a grandfather to me too. Blue tells me Rocky's been asking about me. How can I say no?