9:15 am
After another sleepless night and an early morning wakeup call of Rachel Berry boxes from Kurt, Santana needed a break from the bed & breakfast. She got into her rental car for a drive. In retrospect, it could have been a bad idea since she really only knew how to navigate two roads. And yet, after twenty minutes of aimlessly turning down streets, Santana had found what she was looking for.
In full daylight and without any wintery overcast, Santana could clearly see the sign.
Roz's Golden Pump
It was a strange name for a gas station, but nothing should have surprised her anymore in this town.
Santana was dying for coffee and perhaps some conversation from someone other than Kurt or Burt. Maybe that Sugar chick was working. Santana glanced to the still unfolded map on her passenger side seat. She did technically pay for the worthless thing, but it was weird having it sit there doing nothing. And it wasn't like she was going to use it any time soon.
Maybe she could return it?
All thoughts of returning the map vanished as she drew closer to the gas station. Cars, lines of people, and signs flooded the parking lot. If Santana didn't know any better, she would have thought it was was a line for a concert. People were jumping and hugging each other excitedly for whatever was going on inside the gas station store.
She honked her horn emphatically and slowly inched the rental car into the lot and found parking at the far side. Santana forgot about returning Sugar's map and started to seriously doubt she would be able to enter the gas station, much less get a cup of coffee. She wormed her way through the lines outside and entered the even more crowded gas station store. The bulding was filled to capacity with excited people in their heavy coats and hats waiting for something expectantly. Townsfolk crowded all of the aisles holding papers and receipts. They were all frantically trying to get closer to the counter.
"Don't touch me." Santana maneuvered through another throng of people and forced herself into the corner of the gas station store in the opposite direction of everyone else. It was the only place in Roz's Golden Pump where there was some breathing room.
"Move. I got here first." A woman bumped into her from behind. "I need to be at the front. I pre-ordered on the first day it was released! There is no reason I should be back here!"
"Move?" Santana swiveled around to confront the woman and give her a piece of her mind, but she was already gone and moving through the crowd to the front of the store. Santana raised her voice at the woman. "Yeah. Good fucking morning to you too!"
Despite trying to ignore and avoid every around her, Santana could still hear portions of conversations happening throughout the store.
"I just can't believe they are releasing all of her albums together in one collection."
"I pre-ordered the first day so I bought them on vinyl. It comes with a lithograph!"
"My nephew did that. I was too late and I had to get the three cd collection with a poster."
Santana decided she didn't want to know what was happening. She wanted her coffee and to get out of the Christmas zombie land happening at Roz's Golden Pump. There was still hot coffee on the burner. Santana grabbed the closest cup to her hand and quickly poured the coffee to the brim. No sugar. No creamer. She wanted to get out of the store as soon as possible.
The music in the gas station cut out. It was replaced by a different feed and came from a different source. "Alright, Midtown citizens-"
Santana stood on her toes to try to peer over the crowd of people.
"-it's the moment your consumer saturated desires have been waiting for. For this morning's Sue's Serious Doubts, I seriously doubt you can wait even a minute longer for the release of Rachel Berry's The Berry Best Christmas Album: The Definitive Christmas Edition."
The gas station erupted with screams of excitement. Santana pulled back from the nearest person to protect her coffee from the man's flailing arms. This crowd was for a Rachel Berry re-release? Santana thought maybe it could have been for a meet and greet with Beyonce or - she glanced around and re-evaluated her socio-geographical location- maybe Mitt Romney.
But for a 'Definitive Edition' Rachel Berry album release? What?
"WMHS 97.3 and-" Sue's voice paused over the microphone. Santana didn't have to see the woman to know she was frowning. With reluctance, Sue mentioned the other sponsor for the morning's events. "Roz Washington, owner of Roz's Golden Pump, are ecstatic to be here this morning. Now!" She barked. "Everyone who has their pre-order receipts get into the line over near the chips and snacks aisle. Everyone else you can go to the dairy and cold aisle to pick up your copy while supplies last."
The crowd violently shifted from the front of the store to the back. Men and women waved their pre-order papers and flocked to the back of the store. The loud voices almost made it impossible to hear the feed from the radio station, but Santana could have sworn she heard Sue mutter 'animals' before she continued to broadcast her show through the radio.
"Really, the way Sue's sees it, is if Rachel Berry is still the greatest thing to have ever come out of Midtown then it is a failure on the part of the local government and, like all things, the liberal agenda destroying the education system."
Santana finally forced her way through the store and slapped her cup of coffee on the counter. "How much do I owe you?"
"Umm-" A voice pondered. "-like do you want me to give you a price or do you want the actual price?"
Santana stopped searching for her wallet and looked up to see bright red nails on the counter. She quickly glanced up. "Sugar?"
"Oh! My! God!" The gas station attendant exclaimed. "Map Lady! You're real!"
Santana hadn't felt particularly thrilled to see Sugar, but she was one of the few people Santana had met in town. But 'map lady' really? "Of course I'm real. We talked last week."
"I know, but then I never saw you again and I was thinking about how mysterious and grouchy you were and that maybe you weren't a serial killer, but more like a ninja since you just – POOF! Disappeared!" Sugar talked almost as fast as her hands moved. Her red nails flashed in the air at a dazzling speed. "And then I thought about all the people who probably deserved to be assassinated around here-" Her eyes darted toward to the radio stand where Sue and who could only be the Roz Washington of Roz's Golden Pump were arguing. "-and it just made sense that you were too busy to come visit again."
"I'm not a ninja or an assassin either."
"But you are pretty grouchy." Sugar stated as fact.
"I-" Santana remembered the conversation with DJ Snowflake the previous night and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. How much do I owe you for the coffee so I can get the hell out of this madness?"
"That's going to be $2.39."
"$2.39? I've paid less for the best coffee in New York!" Santana dug out an extra dollar from her purse and slapped it on the counter.
"Oh! My! God!"
"I know – I know – I'm the map lady." Santana tried to grab her coffee and leave before Sugar could say anything else. Sugar snatched the coffee cup away from Santana before she could grab it. "Hey!" Santana practically snarled. "Give me my coffee! I just paid for that!"
"Ms. Washington! Ms. Washington!"
"What?"
"What?"
Both Sue and Roz snapped their heads in Sugar's direction.
"Map lady just bought the Berry Special cup you hid!"
"She did what now?" Roz asked and stepped away from Sue toward the counter.
Santana glanced down at the coffee in Sugar's hand and noticed for the first time that it was plastered in Rachel Berry's face and her album cover art. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."
"Map lady!" Roz snapped. "You are a winner today! I like that. I like winners. I said whoever bought the Berry Special coffee cup would win their very own Definitive Christmas Edition paid for by me! Come on over here and claim your prize so Sue can announce it over the radio."
"What?" Santana shook her head. "I just wanted a coffee and I refuse to win anything with Rachel Berry's face on it and certainly not the entirety of her Christmas catalogue. You can keep that to yourself."
Without waiting for an argument, Santana snatched her coffee cup from Sugar's hands and fled the gas station. She ran out to her rental car, threw open the door, and sped out of the lot.
Santana glanced down to the coffee cup sitting securely in the cup holder. Five sets of Rachel Berry eyes stared back at her as if mocking her.
"What the fuck?" Santana twisted the cup so she wouldn't have Rachel staring at her, but every inch of the cup was covered in the late singer's face. Finally, Santana gave up and resolutely glued her gaze to the road.
She flew through town and slammed her car in a parking space in front of the town hall. Unlike the previous day, Main Street was deserted. One or two parked cars lined either side of the road. There were no people shopping and holding bags from store to store or children skipping along to songs from the speakers. It was like entering a ghost town. Granted, it was still Christmas decorated, but the effect of deserted streets produced a rather creepier effect than intended.
Santana stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and decided to leave the Rachel Berry cup in the car. So far the coffee cup had only attracted the attention of crazy people. Santana moved briskly to the side entrance. This town was so strange. Santana yanked open the door and was relieved to once again be in the heat. She expected to see some coworkers Mercedes had talked about, but like the town, the office building was also deserted.
"Santana?" The sound of heels clicking at the end of the hall came to a stop. Mercedes paused mid stride. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Santana glanced around. "This place is a ghost town right now."
Mercedes followed Santana's gaze around the closed office doors and the lack of traffic in the hallway. "I totally forgot the Rachel Berry's The Berry Best Christmas Album: The Definitive Collection released today. Everyone is picking up their preorders."
"Let me guess...at the gas station?"
"Yeah." Mercedes answered. "How'd you know?"
"Just a guess." Santana dryly answered. "At least you're not there getting one of those ridiculous albums. They play her music nonstop on the radio. Why would anyone need a way to listen to her more?"
"Of course I'm not in line. I pulled some strings with Roz and got three copies for Sam, my parents, and myself two weeks ago. And before you roll your eyes, Santana, she's the most famous thing to ever come out of Midtown. Fifty years later and we – the town - still loves her."
"Trust me." Santana thought of the Rachel Berry face coffee cup waiting for her return in the car. "I think I have a pretty good clue."
Mercedes gave her a questioning look, but pursued it no further. "What are you doing here? It's a little early for the midnight shift don't you think?"
"I was hoping you'd show me how to log onto your computer. I tried last night and I couldn't get it to work. I wanted to look up the National Historic Landmark Registry laws for Pennsylvania."
"Why?"
"I have no idea what to do with all this Rachel Berry stuff at the Hummel's. I don't know if it even has monetary value, much less historical value. So I thought I would at least see what I can find on registry requirements."
"Shouldn't you know this off the top of your head?"
"I work with historical documents. I don't work with landmarks or registry. I haven't done work like this since graduate school. And even then, it was a class project with a controlled site. Our professor had already done the preliminaries, but he needed us to do the grunt work for research. Come to think of it, I probably should have been mentioned when he published."
"Come on. I'll show you how. But you should know that even Doris, the mummy I employ here, can figure out the log-in without my help."
"From all the time I've spent at her desk, I'm pretty sure the only thing she can log in and out is her extensive collection of card catalogs which I heard are gonna make a comeback. I'm sure they'll be back in style like the abacus or a cart and buggy."
"You're lucky she's not here right now." Mercedes opened her office door. "I did mention she's a bow hunter, right?"
"Oooooh right! I'm so scared." Santana rolled her eyes with a smirk.