Book Eight: Farewell Amber

Authors: Al & Cari

Written: February 2008

Summary: It’s Amber’s last day and her replacement employee is introduced.

Copyright: Ours.  Not yours.

 

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“I’m…dreaming…of a white Christmas…”

 

“Not in Washington, you’re not.”

 

Steve looked up from his cart of books and pouted. “You don’t know that.  It could happen.”

 

“Sure, whatever.” She flipped another page of her magazine and yawned.  It was a slow day, and the customers were in short supply.  Outside, the rain fell in a constant drizzle that had swept Western Washington for the past two weeks, but brought no promise of snow. 

 

Despite the gray and gloomy atmosphere, however, the upper management of Nate’s Books struggled to make things happy.  Betty had taken to decorating the store with Christmas lights, fake snow covered trees, and a large array of children’s Christmas books were displayed on all the front tables.  She decorated the windows with garland and fake snow flakes, and convinced Nate to allow an IPod with IPod speakers to be set up, in order to play Christmas music continually throughout the store.  Each day she brought in something else to add, something else to ‘brighten’ up the store.

 

The chime over the door caused Raquel to look up from her magazine again. She raised an eyebrow as Tracy walked in. “Little early, aren’t you?”

 

Tracy slammed her purse down on the counter and glowered. “I was called this morning by Shane and asked to do an interview.”

 

“Ahh.  And why couldn’t Shane be the one to do this interview?”

 

“Apparently, his kid is sick or something and he was ‘encouraged’ by Nate to let me handle it since Betty couldn’t leave the store-“

 

“Sure she could have.” Steve came up behind Tracy, who jumped. “I’m here!”

 

Tracy whirled to look at Steve. “Where the hell did you come from?”

 

“I’m working mid with Raquel.”

 

“It’s your day off.”

 

Raquel snorted. “He traded with Joyce to come in today because it’s Amber’s last day.  I think he’s hoping to score a date or good-bye kiss or something.”

 

Steve turned a bright red. “No, I’m not!”

 

“Anyway, I just came from an interview with the most obnoxious human being on earth.” Tracy paused as Raquel glanced pointedly at Steve. “Well, it’s a toss up.”  Raquel’s eyebrow raised once again in disbelief. “The best part is that Betty must love this woman, because this was the second interview, and Nate is planning on bringing her in today to sign paperwork and get acquainted with the store.”

 

“Nate hired her?”

 

“Yeah, can you believe it?  I spent 10 minutes on the phone with him trying to convince him that there are so many other qualified people-“

 

“Well, maybe she’s really nice.” Steve offered.

 

“Oh yeah, so nice you want to shoot her.”

 

“That’s not very nice.”

 

“Just wait until you meet this woman.” Tracy mumbled. “Is Betty here?”

 

“She’s in the back trying to make garland out of popcorn and cranberries.  Trust me, it’s better to avoid her.  I think she wants us to sing carols to our customers.”

 

Tracy glanced around the nearly empty store. “That would explain why no one is here.”

 

“No. No one is here because Denae and Collin had another fight and scared everyone out.”

 

“If we don’t make our Christmas goal, Nate’s going to freak.”

 

“I upsold James and the Giant Peach today!” Steve exclaimed.

 

“Good for you. What other tricks can you do?” Raquel asked. “If I throw a stick, will you leave?”

 

Steve pouted. “I hope this new person is nicer than you.”

 

Betty burst through the back door and greeted Tracy. “Hi, there! It’s a pleasure to see you today.”

 

“I’m going to clock in now or I’ll be late.” Tracy picked up her purse and rushed to the back room.

 

“She needs to learn to relax.”

 

“Yikes!” Tracy shouted from the back room. “Look at all this food!”

 

“Oh, goodie! She found the treats I brought in for Amber’s last day.”

 

“The buffet you prepared is a little hard to miss,” Raquel said.

 

“I wanted it to be special. Now, I’m going to talk to Tracy about the interview.” Betty trumped on to the back room.

 

Amber walked into the store a minute later, a huge grin on her face.  Raquel glowered. “Yeah, I’d be grinning too if this was my last day.”

 

“I keep trying to make it go away, but whenever I think about leaving, it just gets bigger.”

 

“Yeah, lucky you.”

 

Amber chuckled. “So, who’s here?”

 

Raquel shrugged. “Tracy’s here-she’s meeting with Betty in the backroom.  Steve’s coming down off the high of up-selling James and the Giant Peach, and David…” she paused and looked around the store. “I don’t know where David is…I saw him a while ago with a tape measure.  Not sure what that’s all about.”

 

“Now that you mention it, I have been seeing him with a tape measure lately.  Very odd.”

 

“Yeah, well, that’s David for you.” Suddenly, the goth’s face lit up. “Hey, since you’re leaving and all, and closing with Tracy, maybe you could get her to admit that she and David are dating.”

 

“We’ve been trying to get that confession out of her for the past five months, and neither one has said a word.  I doubt she’ll tell me.”

 

“You never know.  With you leaving the country and all, who would you tell?”

 

“You mean besides you?”

 

“Naturally.”

 

“Well…I’ll see what I can do.” And she headed to the back room to clock in. “Whoa!” She cried when she pushed open the door and saw the table laden with food-mainly homemade cookies, brownies, cupcakes and a small bag of chocolate. “Holy crap, I think they want us to have cavities.”

 

“Amber!” Betty turned from her conversation with a bored looking Tracy, and her eyes lit up at the sight of the young employee. “I was afraid that I wasn’t going to see you before you left on your big adventure!” Then, to Tracy and Amber’s shock, she barreled forward and gave Amber a big hug.

 

Amber’s eyes bugged out of her head and she ducked out of the embrace, grateful-not for the first time-that she was so short. 

 

Betty didn’t seem to notice. “So are you all packed and ready to go?”

 

“Um…I’m not actually leaving until January 3^rd…so not really…”

 

“Oh, I hope you have a great time while you’re gone.  And don’t forget about us here.” Betty started to collect her things together. “We’re going to miss you.”

 

“Uh…yeah, me too.” Even as she said it, she could feel the pull of a grin and forced it down.

 

The backroom door swung open and David stepped inside.  He pulled off his lanyard, replaced it with the others, and gathered his backpack, two bottles of water, a sandwich container, and a bunch of cookies from Betty’s buffet.  He looked up, saw the three women staring at him, and nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

 

“David!” Betty gasped. “Aren’t you going to say good-bye to Amber?”

 

David looked at Amber. “Where are you going?”

 

“Germany.  You know that.”

 

David blinked a few times, reached into his locker and extracted his tape measure.  He pulled it out until it hovered near Amber, then retracted it and gave her a slight smile. “See you later.  Have fun in Europe.”  Without another word, he turned and left the back room, but took an extra moment to eye Tracy. Amber turned to Tracy, but Tracy was expressionless.

 

Betty didn’t notice any of this. “What did you think of the interview?”

 

“I think we need to keep looking,” Tracy said.

 

Betty adjusted her pink glasses to the bridge of her nose. Her Christmas tree earrings with real blinking lights jiggled from her earlobe. “Amber, will you excuse us?”

 

“Not a problem.” Amber left.

 

“This is exactly why I let you interview her. We’re developing your interviewing skills. Can you tell me why you don’t think she’d be a good worker?”

 

Tracy sat down on the step stool and sighed. Any discussion that included the word “development” was not a good discussion. “I didn’t say she wouldn’t be a good worker. I don’t think she’d be a good fit for the store.”

 

“But if she’s a good worker, why wouldn’t she be a good fit?”

 

“It’s her personality. I don’t think it’ll blend with the other personalities, and I don’t want to create any conflict. Besides, anyone who can’t utter a grammatically correct sentence is probably not the ideal candidate for a bookstore.”

 

Betty seemed to consider this. “She is an avid reader, and she reads a variety of books. She has a lot of product knowledge.”

 

“That would be a plus if I thought she learned anything from reading. I think she just counts the letters on the page.”

 

Betty’s mouth gaped out, and for a moment it was only the blinking red Christmas tree lights that filled the silence. “Tracy, you need to learn to keep your personal feelings and your opinion of others out of the work environment.”

 

“Ok. Here’s an example. I asked her what book she was currently reading. She told me it was Genghis Kahn and the Making of the Modern World.” Betty smiled proudly at this, but Tracy went on, “So I asked her to tell me about it. She told me she wasn’t that far into it so she wasn’t going to tell me about it, rambled a bit, and then ended with a discussion on her son overseas in Urktusk.”

 

“Yeah, she told me about that. Her husband is from Norway. Their son is back there to be with his family.”

 

“You’re missing the point, and I don’t think Urktusk is a real city or what is has to do with Norway.”

 

“She’s a reader, she knows books, and she’ll be a hard worker, but best and most important of all she has a good attitude. That’s what to look for when you interview. I’m going to call her and ask her when she can start.”

 

“Apparently we don’t look for intelligence,” Tracy muttered.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing. I’m going to help up front.” She walked out to the counter. Amber stood on a phone book as she rang a customer up, and Raquel browsed the magazine section.

 

Tracy waited until Amber was done waiting on the customer. “Well, it’s official.  We’re going to meet the new employee today-and you’ll all be able to see what I’m talking about when I say that this woman is extremely annoying.”

 

The grin on Raquel’s face caused Tracy to flinch. “Goodie.  I like meeting new people.”

 

“Oh be nice. You’ll love working with her.” Amber countered, and the “I’m leaving” smile widened. 

 

Raquel rolled her eyes. “Sure.  And I should be listening to you…why?”

 

Amber grinned, stepped off the phone book and meandered over to the sci-fi section. Raquel took Amber’s place behind the counter and flipped open a Rolling Stone Magazine.

 

“You are gonna at least try to be nice, right?” Tracy asked.

 

“Do you know me at all?”

 

“I’m beginning to.”

 

In the sci-fi section, Amber paused and stared at the shelves of books.  OK, maybe she would miss something about working here.  She was well known for blowing most of her paycheck on the books, and she was going to lose her discount.  She fished a list of books out of her pocket and read through it.  Most of the books were available, as she had ordered them last week and-

 

“I up-sold James and the Giant Peach.”

 

Amber whipped around to face Steve, who stood behind her with a huge smile on his face. “We need to get you a cowbell. How long have you been standing there?”

 

“The guy wanted to buy a book by Gary Nix--“

 

“Garth Nix.”

 

“--For his kid, but I told him that James and the Giant Peach is so much better.  And he listened to me.”

 

Amber blinked.  Oh yeah, now she remembered why she was so happy about leaving. “That’s great, Steve.” She pulled down a Robin Hobb book and set it aside. “Isn’t there something you should be doing?”

 

Steve pouted. “Betty has me shelving romance while she deals with hiring this new employee.  Tracy says she’s annoying.  It’s going to be weird working here without you.  I mean, you’re really nice and all, and you read manga, too, and I’m going to be stuck here with Raquel, especially when they make me a keyholder, and then I’m going to have to find a way to make sure she actually works, and I lost my notebook that I wrote all my notes in, when you…“ His voice trailed off.

 

Amber was suddenly very engrossed on the cover of the new Jim Butcher book.  She remembered that incident, when she had stolen Steve’s little notebook by putting herself in a very compromising position.  She had achieved her goal, but ever since, Steve had been assuming that she wanted to be in a relationship with her.  Another good reason for leaving.

 

“So…uh…” That was all Steve could mutter before he turned and quickly walked away.

 

Betty emerged from the backroom, dragging her rolling suitcase behind her. She stopped by the counter to put on her red and green Christmas sweater. “I just called Matilda, she’s on her way here-luckily, she doesn’t live too far away.  I’ll have a few minutes to talk with her before I head off to get my grandkids-“

 

“Matilda?” Raquel snorted. “Her name is Matilda?”

 

“It’s a beautiful name.” Betty replied.  “You don’t hear it much these days.  And she sounds perfectly lovely over the phone.”

 

Tracy rolled her eyes behind Betty’s back, and Raquel snickered.

 

“The guy who wrote James and the Giant Peach also wrote a book called Matilda.” Steve smiled, proud of himself. “His name is Ronald Dahl.”

 

Ten minutes passed as Raquel pretended to straighten book thongs, and Betty chatted with a few of her customers in the store. Joyce Henderson had a new romance book coming out, and Betty was taking reservations for her groupies. Tracy picked through the Mystery section, wishing she had some books to shelve, but settled on shifting and making the shelves look full.  She bumped into Amber as she neared the sci-fi shelves.

 

The short girl held a stack of books almost as tall as herself. “Tell me if I’m about to run into anything.”

 

“Do you really need all those?”

 

“I can’t help it.  Books are my addiction. I want to take advantage of the discount while I can.” Amber set the stack down by her feet. “So…can I ask you something?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Well…I was sort of hoping that maybe you could tell me about you and David.”

 

Tracy brought her eyebrows together in a confused look. “What about me and David?”

 

“You know…are you two serious?”

 

“I’m here!” came a loud, obnoxious voice from the front of the store.

 

“That must be Matilda,” Tracy sighed. “You might want to stay hidden. I don’t want her to ruin your last day here, or you might never come back.”

 

“I wasn’t aware I was coming back. Are you going to answer my question?”

 

But Tracy had already left.

 

“Why do I care if you’re here?” Raquel asked the woman.

 

Matilda was a large middle-aged woman and wore her weight like a badge of honor. Her hair was long, dark, ratted and hung like a horse tail down her back. She wore plastic-framed glasses, and her front teeth poked out which made her smile look like a grimace.

 

“I gonna be workin’ here now,” she said. She had a purse over one arm and a plastic grocery bag in the other. She set the bags on the ground by her feet.

 

“Says who?”

 

“Her.” Matilda reached out her arm and pointed past Tracy to Betty. “She called me on my cell phone while I was out shopping. I have a cell phone that I carry anywhere in case my son calls. My son is going to school in Urktusk and he needs to be able to talk to me.” Matilda held up her cell phone. “See.”

 

Tracy visualized Matilda’s ponytail swatting at flies and was startled to see the beat-up flip phone inches from her face. “Huh? What?”

 

“Can you suck people’s blood with those teeth?” Raquel asked.

 

Matilda shoved her cell phone back into her coat pocket. “I don’t believe in vampires. Some people do, but I think them people are silly. My son, he’s in Urktusk, he don’t believe in vampires neither. I don’t think blood would taste very good, but then again I’ve never tried it. My son would sometimes pick his scabs and eat them, so maybe blood does taste good.”

 

Matilda picked up her plastic grocery bag which appeared to contain a white bottle of baby powder with a few other miscellaneous things. “I was out shopping when Betty called. I came here as soon as I could. Where can I put this?”

 

“Uh, we have lockers in the back,” Tracy answered. “Pick one without a name on it, and Betty will get you a lock.”

 

“Oh, I don’t need a lock. All I’s gots is baby powder and gum. No one would steal that. My husband, he uses the baby powder ‘cause sometimes he chafes, you know, down there. But the gum is for me. I like gum, and my son, he’s in Urktusk, he likes bubblegum, so I gots some for him too.”

 

“And where exactly is Urktusk?” Raquel asked.

 

“It’s overseas. My husband, he’s from Norway. That’s overseas, too.”

 

Fortunately Betty came up and rescued the two of them. Tracy could hear Matilda’s loud voice all the way to the back room.

 

“They really set the bar high with that one,” Raquel snickered.

 

“It wasn’t my decision, I can promise you that.”

 

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” Another wicked grin crossed her face. “This is gonna be fun.”

 

Tracy considered telling Raquel to be nice, but then they might be stuck with Matilda longer than they wanted to be.  If Raquel acted…well, like Raquel, it could push her out very quickly.

 

“Was that her?”

 

Both girls looked at Steve, who watched the backroom with awe.

 

“That was her.” Tracy confirmed.

 

“I could hear her all the way back in the children’s department.  And maybe I didn’t hear it quite right, but did she say something about baby powder?”

 

“Why?  You need some?  I’m sure she wouldn’t mind sharing.”

 

“No, I don’t need any. I have it at home.”

 

Tracy and Raquel exchanged looks.

 

“You mean you use it already?”

 

“Yeah, don’t all guys?”

 

“No!”

 

Steve’s eyes widened. “I was just kidding!” But it was too late. His face turned red and he ducked into the mystery section.

 

“At least now I know what I can get Shane for Christmas,” Raquel said.

 

A customer approached the counter and glanced wearily between the three.  “I can help you.” Tracy finally said when she realized that Raquel wasn’t going to.  She quickly rang him up, and he left the store. 

 

The door to the backroom opened and Betty ushered Matilda out. “I wish I could show you around some more, but I’m late to pick up my grandkids-we’re going to an art show in Seattle today.”

 

“I been to one of them once, in a art museum in Spokane-I don’t understand all them pictures with the lines and such-they don’t make sense.  My son, the one in Urktusk, he likes to draw sometimes, but not them weird squiggly pictures.  He likes animals.”

 

Betty grinned. “My granddaughter loves animals!  Just yesterday she pretended that she was a pony, it was so adorable!”

 

“I knows.”

 

“Let me introduce you to everyone before I leave.  You’ve already met Tracy, and this is Steve. We have high hopes for Steve here.” Steve puffed himself up and Tracy tried hard not to smack him over the head. “And this…is Raquel, one of the more…interesting employees.”

 

Raquel looked smug. “Hear that, Trace?  I’m ‘interesting’.”

 

“I’m sure Tracy will show you all around,” Betty continued, “Well, I’m off.  I’ll see all on Monday.” And she skipped out of the store.

 

“Well…um…how about I show you around?” Tracy suggested to Matilda. “Steve, you have some shelving to finish, and Raquel…”

 

“Yup, I know.  I got to have me some time with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.  Maybe some Brittney Spears, you never know.”

 

“Oh, Brittney Spears, ain’t it a shame bout her?” Matilda pulled the magazine away from Raquel. “She gots to get help. My aunt Connie, she drinks all the time, and my family don’t like to talk to her when she drinks, but I do.”

 

Raquel reached for her magazine, but Matilda held it out of reach. She flipped the page. “I think Brad Pitt is hot. I’d do him.”

 

“Ok, that’s enough.” Tracy took the magazine away from Matilda and handed it back to Raquel. “Why don’t we start up front where we display our bestsellers? Follow me.”

 

“Ok. I know all about bestsellers…” trailed Matilda as she followed Tracy.

 

Amber set her stack of books on the counter. “I hope Matilda isn’t the start of a new trend.”

 

“Don’t leave! Please stay!” Raquel begged. “We don’t need another Steve!”

 

“Hey!” Steve exclaimed from somewhere near the back of the store. “I heard that.”

 

Amber laughed. “Do you think I want to work with Matilda? This is more reason to leave. Good luck.” She paused and shuffled through her books, pulling a few aside and tapping at them with her finger. “Now should I buy this whole series now or should I get the rest off Amazon when I get back? I don’t know how much time I’ll have to read over there.”

 

“I think there are bigger problems going on than how much time you will get to read while you’re in Europe, like, how are you going to carry all these home?”

 

“I have my ways.” Amber felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Steve with his hands behind his back.

 

“Amber…I-I have something-thing for you,” he stuttered. He didn’t look up once, but brought his hands forward and presented a nicely wrapped package with a big silver bow.

 

“Uh…Thank you, Steve.” Amber shook the package gently. “What is it?”

 

“Open it.”

 

Amber gently peeled back the paper. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in a feminine products box. Amber held it away in disgust. “What’s this?”

 

“No, no, it was the only box I could find. Keep going. I promise you’ll like it.”

 

Amber broke through the tape and pulled out a deep red journal with a Celtic symbol engraved on the front. With more digging, she pulled out several different colored pens and some stationery and envelopes. Amber was stunned.

 

“Steve, this is great. Thank you.”

 

Steve’s face turned red. “You-you’re welcome. It’s, uh, time for me to, uh, go now.” And he dashed off.

 

Amber set the box down on the counter. The cursivey Always stared back at her. “Do you have a bag I can put this stuff in?”

 

“Yep.” Raquel handed Amber a Nate’s Books bag. “Did you notice he included his address, phone number, email addresses, the store information, and his work schedule for the next couple weeks?”

 

“He did?” Amber took the sheet of DragonBall Z stationary with Steve’s information on it from Raquel. “Hmm.” Amber emptied the contents box into the bag, except for Steve’s information, which she placed in the box and handed the box to Raquel. “Burn this, will you?”

 

“With or without Matilda in it?”

 

Amber glanced at the fiction section. Tracy looked ready to yank her hair out as Matilda rambled on about “atlooie shruggeled,” whatever that was.

 

“With,” Amber decided.

 

Steve came out of the back room with his coat and knit hat with ear flaps. He kept his eyes down.

 

“Good bye,” he said.

 

“Hey, Steve,” Amber called to him.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Thanks. I’ll be thinking of you while I’m in Europe.”

 

Steve’s whole demeanor brightened. “Really?!”

 

“Uh…yeah….sure,” Amber said through clenched teeth.

 

“Yay!” Steve gave Amber a hug that lifted her off her feet.

 

“Hey, hey! Put me down!” Amber shrieked.

 

“Oops. Sorry.”

 

“It’s ok. See you later.”

 

Steve swaggered out the door, glancing back to smile at Amber every few seconds. Amber forced a grin and waved.

 

“That’s a cruel joke,” Raquel said.

 

Amber sighed. “Yeah, but someone needs to be nice to him.”

 

“Why?”

 

“He’s a good guy, just annoying as hell sometimes.” Amber clumped all her books together in front of Raquel. “Want to ring me up?”

 

“Sure. And I have a gift for you, too.”

 

“Really? What is it?”

 

Raquel bent down and lifted the Yellow Pages onto the counter. “For you. You might need to be a few inches taller in Europe. We’re going to miss you around here, ya know.”

 

“It’ll be strange not having to come here everyday.”

 

“Dr. Phil, he’s on Oprah, I read one of his books. My son, he’s in Urktusk, he watched Dr. Phil on TV,” Matilda rambled, as she rounded the corner into self help. “I like Rachel Ray, too. She makes food good,”

 

It was then the grin that Amber had on when she first walked into the store came back. “Nah. I really won’t miss it here.”