I woke up this morning utterly convinced that I needed to take the dog for a walk. At the moment, I don’t own a dog and the dog I thought I needed to walk was the one we had when I was a kid. It was a very strange thought cycle to go through from knowing the dog needed to be walked to remembering that the dog has been dead for quite a number of years. RIP Willie.
Kind of thought today’s prompt would end up being about the dog. I do like the thought of unexpected endings to something that see4med like it would last forever. I think I can also play a lot with emotions due to the greedy landlord too.
Tuesday, February 27th: Empty boxes littered the floor.
Empty boxes littered the floor. It was chaos. Ivan waded in wondering where to start. Surely there was some way to put order to this mess. He decided that stacking the boxes might be the best bet.
‘I’ll put the loose paper in the bin and the boxes in stacks against the wall.’ He decided. It seemed the most logical course. Shifting thought to action, Ivan bent and began picking up the tissue paper that once cradled the shoes the boxes once held. The sale was a good one as they were trying to clear out as many pairs as possible before closing.
Given their location, there were many takers. The small store was surrounded by large office buildings and had a host of foot traffic passing by. It was a fabulous location and they had always done really well. Now, that didn’t seem to matter. The owner decided that rent needed to be doubled over the course of the past year. It was a slow change, each month seeming to increase just a little. While their store could cover the cost, others couldn’t. They were the last open store left in the little complex and the owner could not find replacements for the rent he wanted to charge. And so he was selling.
It no longer mattered that they could pay the rent, they were closing. Ivan moved passed the stages of shock and grief a long time prior. The writing was on the wall long before the notice was sent down. Each rent increase had been an irritant. Ivan was angry but now that anger was starting to fade into weary acceptance. His only choice was to sell as many pairs of shoes, clearing out their inventory before the doors finally shut.
‘And we are doing well with that.’
All of the loose paper was gathered and Ivan began pairing boxes with lids and stacking them against the far wall. Once he cleared some space he could figure out what was left. They had five more days before he had to turn the keys over to the owner and take what remained of his inventory away. Ivan was determined to take as little with him as possible.
‘Its already paid for any way.’ He thought. He made one stack as tall as he thought would stand and started on a second stack next to it. Ivan was already in the black for the month, even with paying the last month of rent and taking in that final shipment. His last order to restock came in just two days before the notice of closure. The sale allowed them to move enough that they weren’t losing money on anything and as they were selling this seasons newest arrivals at rock bottom prices, they were well into profit territory.
Ivan knew that financially he would be okay. What he was going to do with himself when he no longer had to come to the store everyday was another matter. His grandfather ran the store as did his father and now him. He had never had to think beyond its confines as to what to do with himself and was finding it somewhat daunting now.
Ten til Midnight 