The Rogue

Chapter 2

Preparations

When she got to the store the next day, the night before was the last thing on her mind. In fact she could hardly remember it. Not that she'd been drunk, just that it had all looked the same after a while. And today she had more important things to do.

Moving to the window, she placed the sign she had made against the glass.

CLOSED TODAY

OPEN TOMORROW

UNDER NEW MANGEMENT

Standing up, she looked around and smiled.

Time to get to work

Grabbing some sponges and water she headed outside to clean the windows. They had to be spotless, especially the front bay window and door windows.

She'd been lucky enough to book a sign writer for the day and she didn't want anything to ruin the words he put up.

She hadn't thought of a name for the store yet but she was sure that one would come to her. She had a history of delivering perfect work done at the last minute.

The windows were filthy but it took a surprisingly small amount of time to clean them. Job done, she walked back into the store and took a long look around.

She would have to do something about the layout of the store now, she concluded, as she continued to survey the room she had just walked into.

No matter what he had tried, how much money he had spent, or how many ways he had put the furniture her old boss had never been able to attract people to the store.

She herself had always had a feeling that the store was.... well, unhappy. Like it was sad. Unloved even.

"Well," she said out loud, "time to do something about it!"

Determined to start over she grabbed every last piece of furniture and put it in the centre of the room, if she wanted this to be right she'd have to place each piece individually.

First task completed she looked around.

The back half of the store was all bookshelf-lined walls, made out of a dark purplish wood she didn't know the name of. They were bolted to the wall and could not be removed.

Eyeing them critically she came to a decision.

As half of the bookcases had rather small shelves she could use these for her oils and remedies. The cases with larger shelves could hold the books in the inventory.

That decided she saw that the tables would have to be kept away from that area so anyone in there would be able to move about freely.

Which means that the tables will have to go in the middle of the room. Which means I'll only be able to fit about...five.

After ten minutes she had decided where every piece of furniture was going to end up.

Let's get to work!

An hour later she walked over to sit on the counter in the front right of the store (if you were standing on the street looking in) and grinned as she inspected the room.

She hadn't really been going for an effect but it had turned out really well. She'd just put things where they seemed to fit. She had to admit that halfway through she'd looked around and saw chaos but she'd kept going despite the strange look.

And she was glad that she had. The room, though a little unorthodox, was open and appealing. The air had lifted as well and the usual stuffiness had been replaced by a cool, calm and ... happy, feel?

Yes, she thought, happy.

Now stop staring and gloating and get on with stocking!

Okay, okay!

Ugh, why is it I can always have a decent argument with just myself? And I always seem to be losing!

She reached under the counter she was on top of and pulled out the inventory lists she'd made last week. It hadn't exactly been a set task but she'd had a lot of free time and...

Stop making excuses and check your lists!

Snorting, she scanned the lists. Calcium carbonate, sodium nitrate, salt petre, charcoal, rowan twigs, armadillo bile, fluxweed ... Oh shit!

We're almost out of glass drop pendulums, parchment, wiggentree bark, lacewing flies and knotgrass.

She had no idea what wiggentree bark, knotgrass and lacewing flies were used for but she did know that they were big sellers.

Reaching under the counter once again she rummaged through the papers until she found the supply and shipping papers. She ran her finger down the list until she reached the ingredients and their shipping dates.

"Damn!" she cursed, "The pendulums and parchment arrive today but the bark, flies and grass don't get here for another week!"

Damn!

And she'd really wanted to have everything ready for when she opened.

Hmmm...

"I could ring the company and get them to change the dates. They could deliver it early or I could pick them up," she contemplated.

Yes.

Then do it already!

Shut up!

She checked down the items for quick reference and them found the phone number on the letterhead of the list.

Reaching up she took the phone off the wall and punched in the number.

It was picked up after a few rings.

"Hello, this is the Apothecary, for all your magical potion needs. How may I help you?" a voice asked. It was female and sounded very bored.

She wondered how many times the woman had said those words this morning.

"Hello, my name is Lisa Rogue. I'm calling for two reasons. The first is to change the details of account 492. Umm, the account is for a Mr. Joe Harris and is in relation to a store called the Magic Box?" she asked expecting confirmation.

The sound of rustling papers came down the phone line.

"That's what I have here," the woman replied.

"Yes, well, I'd like to change the details of the account. Mr. Harris has sold the store. To me... So I'd like to change the name of the proprietor and the store name for your records," she said hoping there wouldn't be any problems.

"Oh, alright. Do you have the shipping order with you?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I do." Lisa said holding her breath slightly.

"Right, now on the back of it in the bottom right corner, is a number. Could you read that back to me?" she requested.

" Yes, it's DA411731MA," Lisa read slowly.

" Okay, that's it. Sorry about that, but we have to be careful that we don't get people just ringing up and changing everything. That number is like a security code. So, what did you want to change again?" she enquired in a friendlier voice.

"I understand. I want to change the owner's name to Lisa Rogue, R-O-G-U-E. And I want to change the name of the store to... Rogue Essentials," she replied.

Where did that come from?

"Okay," Lisa heard scratching, "And you wanted another thing, um, Miss Rogue is it?" she asked politely.

"Yes, it is Miss. I want to move up some shipment dates if possible. I have some wiggentree bark, lacewing flies and knotgrass ordered that is scheduled to arrive next week and I was hoping I could move it up to today. I would really be in your debt if you could," she pleaded slightly.

"No, that should be fine, but you will have to pick them up. Don't worry about the debt bit though. I heard about the lawsuit against Harris and I would say that the entire female population of London is in debt to you already. He's scum. I'm glad you stood up to him Miss," the woman replied with such conviction that it made Lisa wonder what Harris had done to her.

"Anyway Miss Rogue here is the address. Someone will be waiting for you outside the bookstore on the corner of Ryder St and Daigon... oops sorry wrong one. Ryder St and Godspeed Rd, all right? The person will have your orders of pendulum and parchment also. You won't need to worry about money, it will be charged to your account. They'll be there around 3 o'clock? Is that okay for you?" she asked, being extremely nice.

What did he do to her?

"Yes that's fine. Thank you for being so helpful. You've made this a lot easier for me," Lisa replied gratefully.

"That is my pleasure, really. Thank you for calling. Good bye and good luck Miss Rogue," she said and then hung up.

"Good bye," Lisa said to the dead line and hung the receiver back on the wall.

Well, that was great. Nothing to be nervous about at all. But this sign writer better be here in ten minutes or all my plans are toast.

As if on cue a man knocked on the door. He looked a bit confused.

Opening the door she greeted him and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Lisa Rogue. Are you the sign writer?" she asked shaking his hand.

"Yeah, I'm Jason Arnoth. I'm sorry I'm early. I could've sworn a minute ago I was in a traffic jam and then, I blink and I'm here," he looked around and then shook his head violently as if trying to dislodge something.

"I must need more sleep. Anyway, what can I do you for?" he asked adding a smile for good measure.

"I need two window signs. One for the door and one for the front bay here," she pointed to the large bay window to the right of the door, "but I'm not sure of the design. Come over here and help me out."

They walked over to the counter and she produced a chair for him to sit on.

"The name of the store is Rogue Essentials, so that will have to be on there. Um fairly large and underneath it, put ... um, potions, wizardry and witchcraft. And on the front door only put 'Muggles most welcome'. Don't ask what it means because I don't know. I dreamt it, sort of...." she shrugged and glanced up at him.

"Oh ... okay. Well, what font do you want? Do you want business hours? Do you want contact numbers? On the door that is," he queried.

" Oh, yes,"

Stupid! she thought to herself, " Just a regular font. Uh, Times New Roman? And, uh, business hours? Well, just start with the main window and I'll work them out now. This should be done by one right?" she asked the man.

"Yeah, definitely," he replied confidently as he set out his tools and got to work.

An hour and a half later Jason moved on to the door window and came over for the piece of paper with the trading hours she'd worked out.

It said: - Monday - Friday

9:10 am - 6:20 pm

Saturday

11:00 am - 5:30 pm

He looked at her in surprise.

"Aren't your hours a bit strange?" he finally asked.

"Well, I base them on the hours I want shops to be open. They're never open when you need them. Like I hate how the bank closes at five o'clock on a weekday. I mean how is anyone supposed to get there from work? It's impossible. I don't know why they do it. It's bad business. Plus being open later, it gives more time for more people to come in," she looked at him as he digested her spiel.

"I hate banks too," he winked and went off to do the sign.

Lisa smiled. Everyone hated banks. It was one of the very few constants in the world.

She went back to work, stocking her tables and shelves with books, phials and jars.

True to his word Jason was done at one o'clock and Lisa was also finished. She had stocked every shelf and just needed her shipments for the store to be ready. She'd cleaned the storeroom and had washed the windows again to reveal a perfect sign.

Lisa stood out the front of the store with Jason, admiring his work. In fact she had been so impressed with his speed, openness and precision that she had included a bonus in his paycheck and a note for his wife. Jason had chattered about his wife Jenny and his child, his son, Tanner and how Tanner was ill and jobs were scarce and money tight.

The note was nothing special, just a letter saying that she should be proud of her husband and that he was obviously a very nice man, with a very loved and lucky family.

It also said that anytime she wanted to drop by to talk that Lisa would be happy to listen and help in any way.

The note also said that Jason had told Lisa that their baby had a nasty cough and wasn't responding well to the anti-biotics he was being given. She had enclosed a jar of syrup and a note on dosages. She wrote that if there were any more problems to come and see her and she would do everything she could to help.

Jason had looked a little surprised at the note and package but had nodded when she said to give it to his wife and to be careful because it was fragile. He thanked her and left.

Halfway down the street he stopped his car, stuck his head out of the window and yelled out.

"Thank you!"

Lisa waved him good-bye.

He'd obviously just seen the cheque. She smiled and walked back inside, chuckling.

Looking around she smiled even more.

This is going to work. I can feel it.

For once I agree with you... but what are we going to do about upstairs?

Shit.

Lisa had never been upstairs. Neither had Becca. In fact Lisa wasn't sure that Harris had ever been up there either.

As far as she knew it was a big loft type storeroom. Well, really she was just guessing.

Thinking about it she'd always just pictured another room like the store above them.

Well... we do have an hour to kill.

So... maybe we go and see?

"Goddess, when the work together they're even scarier," she said exasperated.

"So, where is the door?" Lisa said aloud, voice echoing eerily off the walls of the silent store.

The door to the shop's ground level storeroom was one of the bookshelves, so it stood to reason that the door to upstairs would be one too.

The storeroom bookshelf pulled out; there was a small hidden button on the bottom of the hip height shelf. When the button was pushed, one could grab the shelf and pull it towards oneself until it pivoted, whereupon it opened like a normal door and you could access the storeroom.

"In fact, the storeroom doesn't go the length of the store. So the stairs must be in the back corner of the room," she said quietly, "I feel like Perry Mason or Jessica Fletcher."

At that she laughed.

Walking over to the corner, Lisa realized that there was a corner shelf built in to the wall.

Well, that can't be it.... Next!

So... the next to corner shelf? She found the button in the same place as on the storeroom door and upon pressing it tried to pull open the door.

But couldn't.

"Well, if it doesn't come out it has to go in."

Pressing the button again, she pushed and the bookcase rolled back and lodged itself underneath the curved wooden stair, with a large puff of dust.

Crap.

Dust lined the staircase a few inches thick in most places.

You know you have hay fever right?

Yeah, you know right? Remember? Mountains of tissues?

"Only in dry places and London is far from dry. And you're talking to yourself. Don't do it again."

The dust muffled her footsteps as Lisa grabbed a torch and made her way upstairs, to the second story.

The two windows in the stairwell would have provided more than enough natural light but they were so caked with grime that they blocked out the sun completely.

The landing at the top brought another question. The handle was also covered in dust.

Had Harris ever come up here?

Doubtful.

Pushing open the door produced another cloud of dust but Lisa hardly noticed as she turned on the lights in the room.

The room wasn't a room.

It was an apartment.

Shaped like the store below the place was loft -like. It had one large central room, which was lined on two opposite sides with bookcases made of the same wood as the ones downstairs.

Two sides were bookcase-free.

Lisa walked over to the far side of the room. This wall of the apartment faced west. But it wasn't a wall. The bay window at the front of the store provided the base for a balcony and large glass doors lead out onto the small platform.

Turning to face inward, Lisa found a large circular hearth in the center of the room. Inset into the floor actually, as it rose just a foot above the timber floorboards.

Looking up she noticed, a large chimney covering the hearth. Although, at seven feet above it, a grown man could stand in the fireplace and not bump his head on the chimney.

On the far side of the fireplace were two cloth-covered lumps that resembled couches, but Lisa couldn't be sure.

The far side of the apartment was one large window.

Ceiling to hip height, the four panes of glass looked like they folded to the sides and the east facing window would, presumably, catch the morning sun, warming the large, open room every day.

But it would be a while before they'd be clean enough to even see through.

Walking over Lisa threw open the windows and let in the chilly spring breeze that had been making her wind chimes dance all day, flood the room.

The cool air on her face cleared her head a little and as she turned Lisa noticed five doors nestled between the bookshelves on opposite walls of the apartment.

Reaching out to grab the handle on the nearest one, she caught sight of her watch.

"2 o'clock! Shit! I have to run!"

Dashing out of the stairwell, Lisa pulled the bookshelf back to its original position before grabbing her keys and coat and slipping out the front door, only pausing slightly to lock it.

Sliding into her black Jeep, Lisa debated getting lunch and realising she left about a quarter an hour before she had to, settled on sandwiches at a local café.

Getting back in her car twenty minutes later, Lisa hummed as she drove towards Ryder St. and Godspeed Rd.