Chapter 3

The snowflakes fell from the heavens like the feathers of fallen angels. The castle of ice stood before Icelyn, beckoning for her to step inside. The gate to the entrance was lifted, prongs pointing down to the ground like teeth. Through the mount of the structure she could hear the chorus of moans. Above she could see their hands, reaching down towards her, begging to be saved. The entry way seemed to smile as she inched forwards. If she had been anyone else, she would have been scared. But she was like the ice the castle was sculpted from; frozen and numb. Then lightning flashed, boomeranging across the sky and bringing Icelyn’s attention to the balcony above. A man stood, hands on the railing, peering down at her. But he was only a shadow.

 

Icelyn woke in her bed. Her snowflake comforter was kicked off in her sleep and pooled at her feet. She had the same comforter for as long as she remembered, never seeing a reason to get rid of it.

 

It was a Saturday and Icelyn’s long day at Maxine’s Clothing. She opened and closed on Saturdays, taking a few hours off partway through the day as a way around child labor laws.

 

She didn’t mind. In fact, Icelyn was the one who insisted. On the surface her mom and her were able to keep up the appearance that they were financially stable. The truth was, they were on the verge of losing their home. So Icelyn worked long hours on the weekend and closed up shop Tuesday through Thursday nights.

 

She was there so often, and management thought she was the model employee, so they promoted her to assistant manager just last month. It was unusual to have a high school student in management. Usually someone who had been there for as long as Cathy, who had been slaving away at the store for two years, would have made manager over a teenager who started just that summer.

 

Icelyn stuffed her ice-blue, pail purple, and pink tie-dye messenger bag with her Calculous and Chemistry books. Her mom had already gone off to work, leaving Icelyn a quick I love you note and snacks. Only she drew out an eye with long curly lashes, an anatomically correct diagram of a heart, and a unicorn which was missing an eye. She probably worked on it the majority of the morning. Icelyn could just picture her mother sitting at the table, giggling about her creative genius. She tucked the paper in the front pocket of her messenger bag.

 

She splashed the gulp size of pulp-free orange juice down her throat. Took a bite out of the green apple, and through the granola bar in her pocket. They only had one vehicle- the Ford Explorer, and her mom had it for work. Icelyn would do what she always did, walk. The shop wasn’t far from the cabin. It was about a mile, thirty minute walk, up the road. She wore her winter coat this time. It was white and puffy with fur in the hood. She was pretty sure she looked like the abominable snowman. At least winter was only once a year. IN summer there were less layers to remember to wear. She didn’t need to worry about thick gloves, hats, scarves, or getting frost bite on the tips of her ears. It was the only season that made sense.

 

Cathy was already waiting outside the glass doors when Icelyn arrived. Her curly blond hair was pushed back by a thick black headband that covered her ears. She leaned against the brick siding, her black pea coat shielding her from the wind. She kicked her black Uggs, which were stained white on the tips from salt on the sidewalk, into the snow. Icelyn couldn’t help but think she was the prepiest Goth in all of Macedon.

 

A smug smirk played on Cathy’s lips as Icelyn approached. She lifted her pudgy chin, expecting a pat on the head for getting there before the assistant manager. What a good little pet.

 

“How long have you been waiting here?” Icelyn asked.

 

“I don’t know, like twenty minutes?”

 

Icelyn turned the key until the lock clicked and the door swung open with ease. She ushered Cathy inside and quickly shut the door behind them to keep the cold air out. “You must be freezing. Why didn’t you wait at the coffee shop next door?”

 

Black Beans Coffee opened at the wee hour of six am and didn’t close until eleven pm. They had Dunkin to compete against after all. They knew the girls at the shop well and often offered them free expressos. It would have only made sense for Cathy to wait there.

 

She continued to smile at Icelyn, though the corners of her mouth wavered almost unnoticeably. Almost. “Well, I just figured you would have been here earlier since we have a lot of inventory to do today.”

 

Icelyn could take care of the stock in her sleep. They really only scheduled Cathy so she could man the register. “Were we scheduled earlier?” She honestly wondered.

 

The girls retreated to the back of the store and into the stock room/ break room/ locker-room. The lockers were to the left of the doorway. Icelyn reached around, pulling her locker open without looking.

 

Cathy pulled off her headband replacing it with a silk head wrap; black of course. “No I just thought…”

 

“That’s alright. You can go home early today and I’ll make sure you get paid those twenty minutes you were waiting for me.” Just like that, Icelyn turned Cathy from a proud blond poodle into a disappointed defenseless labradoodle.

 

Cathy no longer disguised her scowl. To top it off, Icelyn handed her some cash. “Want to head over and get us come coffee and muffins to start the day with?”

 

She crumpled the twenty in her fist. “Sure.”

 

If Icelyn could feel amusement, she would have felt satisfactory in showing Cathy who was boss, as they say. With the blond pup away from her heels, Icelyn was able to concentrate on preparing for the floor change they had planned for the day. She sat down at the back left corner of the stockroom, in front of the computer. After starting up the dinosaur, she leafed through the papers in her mailbox. Most were new sales promotions, new offers for their “exclusively yours” members, etc. At the bottom of her stack was a hefty booklet with diagrams of how the sales floor was to be set up with all the new merchandise. The interesting part would be figuring out where to place all the old merchandise.

 

She was studying the booklet when Cathy came in, balancing the recycled cardboard coffee cup holder in her right hand, and carrying a little brown bag in her left. Icelyn glanced up from the booklet to see Cathy walking heel to toe so she didn’t spill the Black Bean’s coffee. “Do you need help?”

 

“I’ve got it,” Cathy snapped.

 

“Okay.” She waited until she put the tray next to the black keyboard before taking her caramel expresso.

 

“Careful, they’re hot!”

 

Icelyn nodded and blew into her cup before taking a sip. Cathy did the same and tried to shield herself from Icelyn as she fanned her tongue. Her cat green eyes glowered in Icelyn’s direction, daring her to say something.

 

She didn’t say a word. She simply took a slow long sip of her coffee, sighing with “refreshment”. That was enough to have Cathy stewing where she stood. “Sit.”

 

She flopped backwards into an empty fold-out chair like an obedient pet. Icelyn handed her the papers and began to recite the sales updates word for word. Cathy nodded along, munching on her chocolate chip muffin, and dropping crumbs on the papers in her lap. After the briefing, they still had about thirty minutes before open. Cathy was dismissed to do some straightening while Icelyn started unpacking the inventory.

 

Time seemed to move on fast-forward while they picked away at the new inventory, unpacking, hanging, folding, tagging, and rearranging the entire store. She didn’t even notice Liza was there until she got a tap on her shoulder telling her to take her lunch.

 

Her lunch consisted of sitting in the Walmart’s Subway down the hill and mulling over homework for a few hours. She didn’t really “Mull” so much as stalled. The work was too easy, but if she finished too quickly she would be stuck without anything to do.

 

After a few hours away, she was more than ready to get back to work. Cathy had already gone home and Liza went home shortly after Icelyn came back. For the rest of the night, it was just Icelyn and the product, as it was most Saturdays.

 

Icelyn had finished the floor change and was standing behind the customer service desk, filing a damaged merchandise report, when the familiar ping of the bell rang in her ears. She heard the heavy thud of boots, men’s boots she deduced, approaching the counter. She put on her friendliest smile, lifted her head, and recited the words, "Hello! Welcome to Maxine’s Clothing; how may I help you?"

 

The customer is an outsider, she quickly realized. Containing photogenic memory she was sure he was from out of town. The guy's dark brown hair shagged over his face as his golden brown eye peered into her. She shifted her weight, waiting for a reply. She looked over his golden face, to realize he was analyzing her as she was him. Again she asked him, "May I help you?"

 

He shook his head, strands of hair turning ablaze in the florescent light. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just kind of zoned off for a moment."

 

She raised her eyebrows, waiting for the stranger to get to the point.

 

"Um," he murmured with a hand running through his thick hair. "I just started working over there," he gestured with his thumb where she figured was the café next door. "And I- uh- just thought I'd come check this place out."

 

She nodded. "Were you looking for a gift for your girlfriend?" She inquired. Not many men walked into a chick-shop unless they were looking for a loved one. Considering Maxine’s Clothing’s target group were teenage girls, this was the only conclusion Icelyn could come up with.

 

He laughed awkwardly. "Uh, no." Icelyn held her tongue and tried not to inform this stranger that stuttering so much was a bad habit that he should try to break immediately. "I just thought I would see what kind of place this was."

 

Icelyn nodded her head again.

 

The stranger let out another awkward chuckle. "Any way, um, what's your name?"

 

She pointed to her name tag which clearly read, "Icelyn."

 

"Icelyn?" His voice rose to show the interest.

 

Out of sheer politeness she asked, "What is your name?"

 

She watched his cheeks darken, just a little, as he replied, "Scott."

 

She plastered on another wide smile and reached her hand across the counter, "Nice to meet you, Scott."

 

He placed his hand in hers, and for once in her life she felt a tingling sensation where their skin touched that disappeared the instant she acknowledged it. She shrugged it off and blamed her imagination as they shook hands.

 

"So, I guess I'll see you around?" Was that disappointment she heard in his voice? Or hope?

 

"Definitely."

 

She watched the back of his black leather coat waltz out the doorway as the bell rang, signaling his departure.