Show Me Your Teeth

Harrington Hardware

It was only about a fifteen-minute walk from my father's house to the store. My father's house. I guess its technically my house now.  

I look up at the store in front of me. Harrington Hardware the sign read. I open the door and walk-in. A bell rings as the door opens and the guy behind the counter greats me.

"Hello can I help you find anything?" the man asks.

"Um yeah I need tools to help me remove wallpaper and maybe stuff to paint walls," I tell the man.

"Right this way" The man steps out from behind the counter and walks towards an aisle. "You're removing wallpaper?" he asks as I follow him.

"Yes, I'm fixing up my father's old house so I can sell it," I tell the man.

"Oh, you must be Richards daughter?" he looked back at me.

"Yes, I'm Esme Stirling" I continue following him.

"Richard was a good man. The whole town was sad to learn of the news of his passing" I don't respond to his comment I just nod. "I'm Ellis, Ellis Harrington. My parents own the store. Your father used to come down here all the time whenever he needed something to fix the house but he hasn't been here in a while" Ellis informed me.

"I've been told he was very ill a few months before his passing," I tell Ellis. He stops at an aisle with what looks like solutions.

"Well, to remove wallpaper your gonna need a wallpaper removal solution. Your gonna want to dilute it with water and spray it own the wall. After a few minutes just use a scrapper and the wallpaper should come right off" Ellis explains the process to me.

"Thanks!" I tell him.

"Its a shame though that your selling the place" he looks at me "that house has been in your family for generations"

"It has?" father never made mention of this town or the house until after the divorce.

"Yeah, Whitemoor was founded by three families. The Stirlings, the Harringtons, and the Wilcox family" Ellis informs me.

"I-I had no idea father never told me any of that," I say shocked at the information I had just learned.

"Yeah well, that was a long time ago. The Harringtons and the wilcoxes dont really mingle anymore." Ellis notices the look on my face "But that doesn't matter what happened in the past is in the past. What else was it you needed?" Even though I wanted to know more I thought it best not to push the subject.

"Just some paint. Grey or white should be fine" I tell Ellis.

"Okay, the paints right over there in the back. Greg should be at the paint station he can help you. I'll take the wallpaper solution to the front for you" Ellis begins walking to the front counter.

"Okay thank you!" I call after him before walking to the paint station. I get to the paint station and see a man, who i assume to be Greg, reading some old magazine. "Hello I need some paint," I say interrupting his reading.  He looks up and sets his magazine down.

"What color?" Greg says sounding bored.

"Um just white for now"

"How much?" Greg asks looking at the different sizes of paint.

"I don't know maybe a gallon" this Greg isn't really helpful I think to myself.

"Here," Greg hands me a tin of paint.

"Thanks" I lift it off the counter and struggle as I make my way to the front. Who knew a gallon of paint could be so heavy. I grab some paintbrushes on the way to the front as well. I get to the front and set the paint and brushes on the counter.

"Is that everything?" Ellis ask.

"Yes at least for now" I half-laugh.  Ellia chuckles and scans the items.

"That will be $49.70" I pull out my card and hand it to Ellis. He swipes it and prints my recite. I take the recite and my card. I pick my stuff up and think Ellis. As I make my way towards the door a wolf howls outside. That's weird a wolf during the middle of the day.

"It must be the moon It's gonna be a super moon in a few days," Ellis says "You should hurry home" He looked worried. I look back confused, the wolf is probably far off, but Ellis seems weird he was shifting his weight from foot to foot. Something's off. I hurry out of the store. I walk down the street and look back all of the store lights were off. Suddenly I heard more wolves howl. It was like they were answering the first howl. A chill runs down my spine and I walk faster. This town is starting to give me the creeps. After a few minutes, I make it home and lock the door behind me. The wolves howl again. It's okay its just the moon I tell myself. I look around and take a deep breath. Shit. I forgot to get a dress for the Ball. Oh well, I'll go another day.

I walk into the living room. The wallpaper was an ugly floral print and it was already somewhat peeling from the walls. I put on some music to listen to while I work. Then I find a sprayer and mix the wallpaper solution with water and begin spraying the wall. As I work I occasionally hear the wolves but ignore them. They're somewhere deep in the woods, I tell myself, and I'm safe in here.