Book 10: Holy Shane

Authors: Al & Cari

Written: November-December 2008

Summary: Tracy deals with the repercussions of Halloween, and Amber has surprising news.

* * *

“Where did the hole in the wall come from?” Shane held the calendar that disguised it in his hand.

“I don’t know,” Amber answered. “I never noticed it.”

“It wasn’t here before I left for my weekend. It must have happened over Halloween.”

“How did you know to look behind the calendar?”

“Because it goes through into the men’s room.”

Amber peeked through the hole at the tiled walls and stalls. “Hmm…I thought it would be more exciting than that.”

David walked into the bathroom and stopped in front of the urinal. There was a moment’s pause before he looked up and saw Amber and Shane watching him. “Do you mind?”

“Sorry.” Shane covered the hole back up, but it didn’t stop the sound. “We have to get this fixed.”

*flush*

“Do you know when Nate is coming in?” Amber asked. “I have news for him.”

“David was here Halloween night. Maybe he knows about the hole.” Shane lifted the calendar back and peeked in. David was at the sink washing his hands. “Can you come see me when you’re done?”

“Ok,” David answered.

“What news?” Shane turned back to Amber.

“I’m going to Europe to study abroad. I’ll be gone a year.”

“You’re quitting?”

“Yeah.”

David pushed the swinging door open. “I don’t know if I like this new way to micromanage employees. Can’t we have a little privacy?”

“I’ll talk with you later,” Shane told Amber. Amber went up front to help Betty. “Were you here when this hole was created?”

David shook his head. “No.”

“Do you know how it happened?”

“It was an act of God.”

“What?”

“Can I go now?”

“That doesn’t explain anything!”

“If it could be explained I would explain it, but I wasn’t here, so I can’t help you.”

Shane sighed and slunk into Nate’s chair. “I’m going to make some calls.”

“While you’re at it, we’re out of paper towels in the men’s room. Bye.” David turned and walked out the door.

Shane frowned and tipped back in the chair. Being an old chair, it rocked back just enough to almost spill him onto the floor. He caught himself and tipped forward, frowning. He reached for the phone to call Tracy when Steve entered the backroom, four minutes late for his shift.

“Sorry I’m late!” Steve cried, shoving his stuff in a locker. “I missed the bus and had to have my girlfriend drop me off.” He grabbed his name badge from the collection and placed it over his head. “Hi, Shane! How are you today?”

“Just fine…except, do you know where that hole in the wall came from?” He gestured to the hidden hole behind the calendar.

Steve’s face went white. “I had nothing to do with it, I swear! What did Tracy tell you? Did Raquel tell you that I had something to do with it? It’s just like her to say something-I told Nicole that she shouldn’t do it, but-“

“Whoa, calm down. No one’s told me anything-yet. I noticed it today when I came in early and used the men’s room.”

“Oh…you don’t know…” Steve smiled brightly. “Well, I’m sure there’s a lot to do today, and I see that Nicole unpacked some boxes, so I’m going to shelve a little-that is, unless you want me to do something different. I know that David and Betty will be leaving soon, so-“

“OK, go ahead. I’ll let you know when I want you to cover registers.”

Steve was greatly relieved. He grabbed a cart of Anne Coulter books (Shane had noticed them when he came in for his shift-was it his imagination, or did they look a little beat-up? Partners was sure getting sloppy with their shipping) and wheeled them out of the room.

So whatever had happened involved Nicole. Come to think of it, when Shane had run into her as she was leaving, she did seem happier than he had ever seen her before. Shane figured she had just had a good weekend. So now he had a mystery to solve, and he had to figure out what to do about Amber leaving.

Well, he couldn’t sit back here and think about it all day. He needed to work-that was why he was here.

Too bad I don’t make commission here. He thought as he stood to his feet. I’d make a killing!

He joined Amber and Betty at the registers-Betty was chatting with a customer, and Amber stood on her phone book, going through a pack of new bookmarks. She glanced up when Shane approached.

“You’re really going to Europe?” He asked.

“Yeah, isn’t it great? I got an internship. I’ll be there for a year-mostly in Germany, but hey, I’m not going to be picky. I’m going to be in Europe!”

“What’s this about Europe?” It was Betty, who had heard the last half of the conversation and just had to be nosy.

“I’m going to Europe for a year. Three weeks notice starting today.”

“My word! How exciting! Are you going for some fun and relaxation?”

“I’m going for school.”

“How wonderful!” A tear formed in the corner of Betty’s eye. “We’ll miss you.”

“Betty, do you know anything about the hole in the wall?” Shane asked.

“The what?”

“Amber, watch the registers.”

Shane took Betty to the back room and pulled the calendar down.

“My goodness!” Betty exclaimed. “Who could have done such thing? How did this happen?”

Shane peeked through the hole again and saw David at the sink picking at his teeth. David looked up at him and stopped. “Will you guys please leave me alone?”

“Sorry.” Shane replaced the calendar.

“When did this happen?”

“I don’t know. Sometime in the past two days.”

“Does Nate know?”

Shane shrugged.

“Oh, this is awful,” Betty huffed. She unlocked the filing cabinet and pulled out a stack of completed applications. “Here. You look through these. I’m going to call Nate. We can’t let stuff like this happen, and he’s the only one with the code to view the video camera.”

“Let me know what he says. I’ll set aside the good applications.” Shane left the back room. Steve was talking to man in the history section. Amber was shelving journals as she watched the registers, and David was pulling returns in the business section. Francis, a regular customer, sat at the table in the kids section mumbling to himself as we wrote his in his notebook. A few customers browsed the front of the store.

He walked up to David. “Did you greet every customer on the sales floor before you started pulling books?”

David looked at him. “No.”

Shane folded his arms and put on his best lecture/motivational voice. “Customer service should be our main focus. It comes before everything else. Every fifteen seconds you should look up and greet any customer within ten feet of you.”

David set his list down. “I didn’t greet every customer in the store because Amber did it for me, and there are currently no customers within ten feet of where I am standing.”

Shane narrowed his eyes. “Just making sure.” He took his stack of applications to the information desk and picked up the top one.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“Looking at applications. Amber put in her two weeks.”

“I heard.” Steve stood and tip-toes and peeked over Shane’s shoulder. “He looks good.”

“It’s Raquel’s brother.”

“Yikes!” Steve stepped back. “Nevermind. Let me see the next one.”

Shane flipped them over. “These are for my eyes only.”

“But I want to help. Nate said I could help onboard some new people as part of my development.”

“Not this time.”

Steve stomped his foot, ready to complain, but a customer approached the desk and he immediately perked up. “Hello! Welcome to Nate’s Books. I’ll help you find anything you want. What are you looking for? We got in a ton of new releases on Tuesday. Are you looking for one of those?”

“I was going to ask where the bathroom is,” he said.

Shane answered, “It’s in the kids section at the back of the store. Ignore the hole in the wall. It doesn’t go anywhere.”

“I can show you, if you want. You can follow me, I know the way.” Steve tripped on his feet as he rushed to help.

“No, it’s ok. I’m sure I can find it.” The customer backed away and headed down the aisle toward the kids section.

“When he gets out, I’ll tell him about my favorite book James and the Giant Peach,” Steve declared. “I put it on staff selections, and I’m going to sell it to everyone, especially if they have kids.”

“That’s great, Steve. Why don’t you go shelve for a while?”

“But Amber told me to be a greeter.”

“I’m telling you to shelve.”

“Okey-dokey.” Steve skipped to the backroom, but was stopped when the man who’d asked where the bathroom is, bolted out and ran head on into Steve.

“Bullshit that hole goes to nowhere!” the man cussed. “There’s a freaky old lady back there crying! I’m going next door to the café to use their bathroom.”

“Do you need some bathroom reading?” Steve suggested.

Shane ran around the front of the info desk. “I’m terribly sorry, sir. I hope we can make it up to you.”

“Like hell you can.” The man pushed past the two employees and marched out the front door.

Shane sighed. “I guess I better check on Betty.”

“And while you do that, I’ll look through the applications.”

“No! Go straighten the displays until I get back.” Shane stepped into the backroom where Betty watched the security tape at Nate’s desk. “What did you find out?”

Betty sniffled. “It was Nicole with a gun. Who brought a gun into this store?”

“What was she shooting at?” Shane put his hand on the back of Betty’s chair and leaned forward.

“I don’t know. It’s off camera.”

At that moment, the two figures hiding under the desk backed out and stood up. One was Steve dressed as Superman, the other one was a tall blonde in short pink dress.

“What was Steve doing with Marilyn Monroe under the desk?”

Betty and Shane exchanged looks.

“Tracy was in charge that night.” Betty turned the screen off. “I’ve got some questions for her. How could she let this happen to our beautiful store?”

“What did Nate say?”

“He said we need to be team players.”

“That’s right.” Shane clasped his hands together and stretched his arms out in front him to crack his knuckles. “It’s going to take teamwork to solve this.”

“That’s right.”

David pushed through the swinging door. “I need a tape measure.”

Betty pointed to the toolbox on the shelf to the right of the desk. “Do you know about the hole in the wall?”

David rifled through the toolbox until he found what he was looking for. He glanced at the hole. “It’s big.” And he walked out.

Betty watched the door to see if David would come back, but he didn’t. “I’m not sure what team he’s on.”

“I already asked him about the hole, and he didn’t tell me anything either. Besides, he wasn’t in the store when it happened. It was after his shift.”

Betty nodded and glanced at the clock, wondering if Tracy was home. Then she remembered that she had Tracy’s cell phone number and could call that. “I’m going to try to call Tracy.”

“Sure thing. I’ll see if maybe I can find something sturdier to cover that hole.”

Out on the floor, Amber approached the Information Desk, where Steve rifled through a stack of papers. “What are you doing?”

Steve dropped the papers. “Nothing! I’m not doing anything.”

“Uh huh, right. Does Shane know that you’re looking through applications?”

Steve blinked a few times, the deer-in-the-headlights look passed on his face. “Um…” He drew himself up. “Sure he does. He asked me to.”

Amber arched her eyebrows. “Really?”

He deflated. “No.” He moaned, collecting the applications. “But Nate said I could help bring people onboard-you can call and ask.”

Holding up her hands, Amber backed away a little. “Whoa, calm down. I believe you…I think.” She glanced towards the backroom. The store was mostly empty, and David had long ago disappeared. “So…anyone good?”

Steve was pleased that Amber was asking him such an important question. Glowing with delight, he spread out three applications from the pile.

“These three seem good. They don’t have any bookstore experience, but these two have worked some retail. And this one lived in Alaska before she moved here.”

Amber frowned, and then pointed to one application. “This guy hasn’t worked retail-he works at McDonald’s. It’s not the same thing.” She rushed on before Steve could protest.

Pouting, he replaced the application with the other discarded ones and focused on the possibilities. “They shouldn’t be so picky. After all, they hired Raquel.”

“I’m thinking that that is a perfect excuse for them to be picky.”

Steve giggled and Amber rolled her eyes. Three weeks was way too long for her to wait.

“So…uh…since you’re here…” Steve shifted his feet, staring at the counter. Amber glanced up from one of the applications and felt a dread seeping into her soul.

“Uh huh…” She said slowly, wishing that David or Shane would appear and tell her to get back to the registers.

“How, um…how come you’re leaving? I mean, is it just for a while-“

“Well, maybe. We’ll see how things go when I come back.”

“So you are coming back?” Steve smiled, showing every tooth in his mouth.

“Um…sure…” Maybe. But she didn’t want to dash his spirits…well, maybe not right away. “Have you seen David?”

“Yeah, a few minutes ago. He walked by me carrying a measuring tape. I don’t know why. He didn’t look happy.”

“He showed expression?”

“Well…maybe not exactly. But you got the feeling that he wasn’t happy.”

Amber tried to picture it and failed. At that moment, the phone at the Information Center rang and Steve jumped to answer it. “Thank you for calling Nate’s Books, this is Steve-Oh, hi Tracy…It’s probably Betty. She wanted to talk to you…about Halloween…the hole…” He lowered his voice and Amber frowned.

“What hole?” She hissed.

Steve waved his hand in a dismissive way. “You remember…the other night…with the you-know-what…yeah, that hole.” His eyes widened. “I can’t tell her that! You have to tell her what happened-oh, uh huh. Uh huh…OK. Bye.” He hung up the phone and Amber arched her eyebrows.

“What was that all about?”

“Betty’s been trying to call her for the past fifteen minutes, but the reason she has today off is because it’s her cousin’s wedding, and every time the phone rings, it interrupts the service-even on vibrate.” He glanced fearfully towards the backroom door. “I have to tell Betty to quit calling her before her cousin kills her with her bouquet.”

David walked up with a stack of books in his hands and a tape measure in his back pocket. “She’s not at a wedding,” David said. “She just doesn’t want to talk to Betty.”

The chime above the door rang. The customer looked around for a moment and then browsed the front table. “Hang on a minute.” David set the books down on the info desk, whipped the tape measure out of his pocket, and pulled out the yellow tape as far as it would go. He mumbled to himself, then closed it, “nope, out of range,” turned, and walked away.

“I wish I knew what went on inside his head,” Amber said.

“He should have greeted her!” Steve gasped. “You don’t turn your back on customers!”

“It’s your duty to make up for David’s indifference. Go greet her, Steve.”

“I will.” Steve’s little feet pedaled the ground and he took off to the front of the door.

“Good boy.” Amber smiled. She took the stack of applications with her to the registers and went back to shelving journals.

The rest of the morning passed quietly. Shane and Betty spent the time in the back room doing who knows what. Amber watched the register, Steve greeted, and David walked around with a tape measure muttering to himself as he shelved. At two o’clock, the door swung wide open and in stormed Tracy.

“I thought you had the day off?” Amber looked up from her merchandising project.

“So did I.” She slammed her purse down on the register counter. “Betty won’t stop calling me. She wanted me to come in right away. I couldn’t get the calls—or the crying—to stop until I agreed to come in today and talk.”

“What’s up with the hole?” Amber asked.

Tracy rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t my fault! Why are they blaming me?”

Steve saw Tracy and had to come over and say hello. “Hey, Tracy. How was the wedding?”

“Drop dead, Steve.” Tracy picked up her purse and headed to the back room.

Tracy swung through the back door and stopped when she saw Betty sitting at the desk, watching the video of Nicole with the gun for probably the millionth time, and Shane struggling to cut through a box with a box cutter. “OK, here I am.” She said and Betty jumped. “So what’s the problem?”

Shane jerked his head towards the small computer monitor that showed Steve and Marilyn Monroe cowering under the desk. “Want to explain what happened?”

“It’s pretty obvious. You have it on tape.”

Betty shook her head, which reminded Tracy of a nervous, shaky dog. “No, no, that can’t be what happened. Nicole would never…” Her voice died off and she cleared her throat. “All I’m saying is that things like this can be doctored…someone could want to frame her.”

Tracy stared at her, wondering if she had suddenly stepped into some parallel universe somewhere between her car and the backroom. She turned to look at Shane, who had stopped cutting at the box and was now staring at her, as if he could use his brain powers to get her to confess.

“This is a very serious matter,” Shane said sternly, knowing that he could get her to spill what happened. “Nate is furious, and if he chooses to call the police, there’ll be an investigation-“

“Look, I wasn’t actually in the backroom when this whole thing happened, so why don’t you call up Nicole and find out what happened, OK? This is my day off, and I want to go home.” Her irritation was evident and Betty nodded.

“I’ve called Nicole-she’s on her way here to explain how something like this could have happened. We’ll need to talk to Steve, as well.”

“Eeep!” Came a cry from the hole in the wall. Shane reached over and pulled down the calendar. Steve jumped away from the hole, his eyes wide. “Um…just leaving.” And he hurried out from the bathroom.

Shane dropped the calendar cover back down, and leaned against the desk with this arms folded. “You were the manager in charge that night. You let Marilyn Monroe—who doesn’t work here—in our back room, and you let Nicole come in here with a loaded firearm.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Tracy pointed to the screen where Nicole was frozen on the screen aiming a gun at the wall. “Does she look like she would have listened to me?”

Betty dabbed at her eyes with a pink colored tissue.

“This is serious, Tracy,” Shane continued. “You not only caused damage to the store, but do you know how many laws you broke? You can not only put us under police investigation, but you can lose your job!”

“Do you know how many people were saved by Nicole shooting that gun?”

Betty slammed her hand down on the desk next to Shane. “Tracy, stop it, and tell us what happened.”

“If I could explain it, I would.”

“Try me,” Shane challenged.

Tracy rolled her eyes and sat down on a stack of boxes. “Ok. She was shooting at the Ghost of Linda.”

Betty’s eyes narrowed. “Linda was here?”

“Who’s Linda?” Shane asked.

“No, it wasn’t Linda, it was her ghost. She was haunting the mall. Marilyn Monroe is really Drew from the Pretty Girl Salon. He came for my help after Linda destroyed his store.”

Shane’s face crinkled up in confusion. “What?”

Betty’s eyes teared up again. “It’s bad enough you allowed this to happen, but now you’re going to lie to us and make up stories about a ghost?”

“Trust me, I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

“Tracy, you are suspended indefinitely pending an investigation into this matter and a performance review. You can leave now.”

“But—“

“Bye, Tracy.” Shane shook his head. “You’ve let the store down.”

“Me? Why are you suspending me and not Nicole? You got glowing reviews from customers about our Halloween night events. They thought the ghost was a show we put on! I saved this store from scandal!”

“We’ll talk about this later, Tracy.”

“Fine.” Tracy grabbed her stuff and stormed out of the back room.

“Whoa.” Amber said from the registers when she saw Tracy’s face. “What happened?”

“This company sucks. This store sucks. Managers suck!” She yelled towards the backroom door and kicked the counter. A near-by shopper scurried away.

Amber’s eyes widened. “Did they fire you?”

“Not officially.” Tracy grumbled.

“Oh man…if they do, I’m leaving today and not coming back. You’re the only cool manager in this place.”

“Really?” She figured that was always the case, but no one had ever said anything.

“Yeah, of course. I mean, who would they get to replace you? Steve?”

“Yes?”

Both girls turned. Steve was standing near the registers, looking at them hopefully. “Did someone say something about becoming a manager? Did Shane or Betty say something to you?” he asked Tracy.

“In your dreams.” She muttered. “I’m going home.”

At that moment, Nicole stalked into the store. “Can you believe it? They call me on my vacation to come in here and talk about that stupid hole. I have to drive all the way from Puyallup in rush hour traffic.” She stopped muttering and glowered at Tracy. “Why are you here?”

“Same reason you’re here.” Tracy snapped. She wasn’t very happy with Nicole at the moment-didn’t Nicole promise she’d take care of the whole thing? “Now can you go in there and tell them that I wasn’t the one who allowed you in here with a gun?”

“You came in here with a gun?” Amber echoed, eyes getting bigger. “How come no one told me about that?”

“They’re blaming you?” Nicole asked in disbelief. “It’s Shane, isn’t it? Idiot. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

“I’m coming too.” They all looked at Steve. “I was in the room when it happened. I can tell them it wasn’t your fault.” He looked a little uncomfortable. “I mean, as long as they don’t want to press charges or anything, cause…I don’t want to go back to jail!”

“No one is going to jail.”

“Should we ask David to come back with us, too?”

All eyes turned to David, who was busy examining the tape measure and the distance between him and a customer. He frowned, the tape receded back into the silver casing, and he approached the customer, who by now regarded David with an uneasy look on his face.

“How may I be of assistance?” He asked the customer.

“Um…”

“It would be my pleasure to help you,” David recited.

“David!” Tracy called and the customer looked relieved. “We’re including you in this meeting.”

David shrugged. “Thank you for shopping with us, and come again.”

“Who’s going to watch the register?” Amber asked. They all looked at her. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Tracy, I think you better stay out here, too,” Nicole suggested.

“Why?”

“I don’t want them any madder at you.”

Tracy rolled her eyes. “Fine by me.”

Nicole and Steve marched into the back room. David dropped the tape measure in his pocket and held the door for them.

“I have to know what they’re saying.” Tracy set her purse and coat down on the register counter. “Tell everyone the men’s room is closed.” Tracy scurried into the restroom and used a pen to push the calendar out of the way just enough to watch, but not enough to be noticeable.

“It was scary!” Steve exclaimed, arms flailing wildly. “I thought I was going to die!”

“So I have three people telling me it was a ghost?” Betty clarified. “David?”

David shrugged. “I just gave Nicole the gun.”

“Why did you have a gun?” Shane wanted to know.

“I was watching the gun store. Jason thought it might get broken into if he left.”

“And why were you at the gun store?”

“That’s where the act of God went when it left the salon.”

Betty and Shane were beyond confused. “Nicole?”

“It’s all my fault. Tracy tried to stop me, and she did a good job of keeping the customers under control. It was all a misunderstanding. There was a cat loose. Everyone thought it was a ghost, being Halloween and all.”

“Now you’re telling me it was a cat?” Shane asked. “Why did you shoot at a cat? And you have bad aim, because I don’t know how a cat would be in the middle of a wall.”

“It could fly!” Steve exclaimed.

“A flying cat?” Shane and Betty turned to David.

David shrugged again. “Don’t look at me, I think they’re crazy.”

“I’ll pay for the damages,” Nicole offered. “Tracy was worried about the store, and things got a little out of control.”

“What happened to the cat?” Betty asked.

“She threw an Ann Coulter book at it and it disappeared,” Steve answered.

“The cat didn’t like Ann Coulter?”

“It was a liberal cat.”

Betty was past crying now. She took out a notepad and pen. “I still don’t know what the peaches happened, but I’ll let Nate know what’s going on and that Nicole will cover the damages.”

“And Tracy?” Steve asked.

Betty and Shane looked at each other. “I guess she can come back to work if you are positive she had nothing to do with this.”

“I am. I’ll write you a check.”

David and Steve left the back room. Tracy ran around the corner.

“Is it true? I still have my job?”

“Yep. I told them who was boss. I told them they better not fire you or else they’d be sorry. You’re the best manager we got, and the store needs someone as strong a leader as you to guide us through the rough times with our competition. They all agreed, and then they cheered, and—“

“Shut up, Steve.”

David looked at his watch. “It’s time to go home. Anyone want to borrow my tape measure? No? It’ll be in my locker if you change your mind.” He pushed his way into the back room.

“Tape measure?” Tracy asked.

“David is working on his customer service skills,” Steve answered. “I’m so glad you’re staying!”

Nicole huffed out of the back room ten minutes later. “I hope you’re happy.”

“Thanks, Nicole. Really,” Tracy said. “You saved my job.”

“Yeah, whatever. Not much of a job. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve had enough for the day.” Nicole left.

David came out of the backroom with his backpack slung over his shoulder. “It was a pleasure working with you.” And he left.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Amber leaned over the register counter and rested her head in her hands.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know why I stay here.”

“Because you love books.”

Tracy pondered that a moment. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“Guys, I have to pee.” Steve danced in front of the register.

“Thanks for sharing.”

“I don’t know where to go. Denae and Collin are working at the café, and Harvey’s may catch fire again, and Drew might hit on me, and guns are scary, and I don’t take vitamins.”

“What’s wrong with our bathroom?”

“Betty is crying and Shane is arguing on the phone with Nate.”

“I guess you’ll have to hold it.”

Steve bit his lip. “I’ll try.” And he hopped off.”

Tracy turned back to Amber. “Seriously, why am I still here?”

“Because one day, Nate might make you the general manager. And when you become the general manager, this place will kick ass.”