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 Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:19 am
It was shopping day. One of Millicent’s favorite days of the week, a time where she got to spend time with her mother, going through lots of different stores around Destiny City…and sometimes getting lots of different gifts from a lot of them too!
The child was holding onto her mother’s hand, humming happily. The two were on their way to the candle store, going to pick up some Christmas candles before the big holiday rush that was bound to happen soon. As the two passed by the dusty old antique shop, Millie stopped in her tracks, her chocolate brown eyes growing wide. “MOMMY!” She cried out, nearly scaring the older woman to death. “Mommy, Mommy I saw a PIG in that store, Mom we HAVE to go in.”
The child was completely excited, since never before had she seen a pig in the antique shop! Her mother laughed then sighed. “The candle store is right next door, honey. Come there when you’re done looking at the pigs, all right?”
Millicent let out a cheer then nodded, giving her mother a hug, then all but racing into the antique shop, looking around in wonder. “Woah! Everything is so old!”
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:30 am
Children’s voices. Jett didn’t hear a lot of children’s voices in the antique shop. He stood upright and leaned back a bit so that he could see around the large oak grandfather clock that had been there since his first day. Suspiciously, he peered at the little beast that had broken the silence he’d just been appreciating.
There was a broom in his hand; he’d been leaning against it, awkwardly trying to take a nap while standing up so it looked like he was still working. The floor was spotless; he’d swept twice already and was only doing it again to try and keep himself from napping—again.
Whatever lethargy he’d had been experiencing as a result from slow business died as he glanced over the girl in the shop. The girl with no parents in visible sight. The girl with no one to tell her ‘No, don’t touch that!’ or, ‘Hush, don’t yell in doors!’
The girl with no one to stop her from wreaking havoc.
And his boss was already out running errands, so if something broke or got misplaced, it was on his watch, and was coming out of his paycheck.
Propping the broom against the nearest wall, Jett brushed his hands on his pants as he moved to intercept the girl before she could unleash her destructive childish mannerisms (because all children were monsters, Jett knew this was a fact and he wasn’t going to let anyone tell him otherwise). “Hey, kid,” he said slowly, wondering how she looked so excited.
The antique shop was an antique in itself—while well maintained, it showed cleared sign of age. It smelled of old wood and varnish, mostly, and Jett would have been the first to describe it as giving the place a homey feel. There were unique ornaments all along the front wall, and various other household items. The furniture was in the back, the jewelry by the counter. Jett walked down the nearest aisle, eyes focused on the child, intent to intercept her before she made her way to anything valuable.
“…What are you doing in here?” he asked; he tried to be polite, but he wanted to just yell at the girl to scram or something and get out of his hair. He glanced behind her, searching for any parents that might be lagging behind her.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:11 am
Millicent looked up at the strange guy that had spoken to her. Huh! It must be a ghost that was haunting one of the cool old antique treasures that lived in this store! “Hi! I’m Millicent and I came in here because I saw you had pigs in your window. Do you have lots of antique pigs here? Are any of them haunted? Do you have haunted things here? Do you believe in ghosts? Are you a ghost?” She drew in a deep breath then just grinned, looking around, eyes lighting up as she spotted the pig in the window that had caught her attention in the first place.
She walked over to it and picked it up. “Woah! It’s heavy! Is it made out of glass or something?” The item in question did indeed look very fragile, with little jewel eyes that glistened in the sunlight coming through the large window.
“Do you know how old this pig is? How much is it? I love pigs! I have two of them at home because my mom’s allergic to cats!”
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:24 am
Holy s**t. Holy s**t, noooo. No, Jett’s day was supposed to be nice. Only old people, lost people, maybe some homeless people—only quiet and boring people—were supposed to come in here.
Not psychotic, hyperactive little monsters.
Jett had to force himself from being groggy to keep up with her. “Whoa, now,” he said, not very comfortable with the idea of the little girl heaving around the ceramic pig. “That’s too expensive for you to be playing with, little girl. Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to touch things that don’t belong with you? Here, put that back down. No—you know what? Give it to me, I’ll put it back down,” he said, holding his hand out for the pig; he didn’t like it anyway and if had no problem with storing it on a shelf where the girl couldn’t reach.
It would be safer this way, of course. Even if he looked stupid holding that hideous excuse for art. The pig was collecting dust; it had been here for months and no one but this strange little girl had ever so much as cast it a second glance. There wasn’t anything special about it—it was scuffed in some places, held no historical value, and the jewel eyes were hardly even semi-precious stones.
To Jett, the pig was just a piece of junk that should have been tossed out ages ago, but he wasn’t going to let this little girl have her way in his shop.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 1:54 pm
Millicent looked up at Jett, frowning when he took the pig out of her hands. “Hey! Hey you stupid big ghost mister. That’s my pig! I’m going to pay for it myself! I do have an allowance you know!”
She reached into the small lightsaber shaped purse that was clipped to her belt loop and pulled out a twenty. “This is my allowance from my mommy…and I have some birthday money from last year that my dad sent me…I have thirty dollars…is that enough to buy the pig? It just needs some love! Some love and cuddles..just like all pigs!”
She held the two bills in her hand and looked up at Jett, determination in her eyes. “I want the pig, Mister…and I’ll get the pig. No matter what.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:10 pm
Though the girl continued to speak—and was holding out money for him—Jett was still caught up on ‘Stupid big ghost mister’. Mostly because he was neither stupid nor a ghost (Big, he’d give her; she was pretty small compared to him). “…Your mom gives you allowance? You’re pretty spoiled,” he said after a few seconds as he plucked the bills from between her fingers.
Was there any guilt in taking money from a child? She knew what she was doing; this was a business exchange. Even if he only valued that piece of junk pig at, like, a quarter. He held the money between his index finger and thumb, glancing down at her. “…You really sure you want to give me all that money for this little pig?” he asked, suddenly taking an interest in the ceramic pig he held in his hand. He drew it to his face and examined it.
And it was still as ugly as he’d thought it was the first time he’d seen it. “…What’s so special about the pig that you’d spend all your allowance and birthday money from your dad on it?”
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:17 pm
“Duh. It’s a pig.” She held her hands out, waiting for him to put it back into them. “I love pigs. I have to pigs, Jacen and Jaina. Those are Star Wars Characters, in case you didn’t know, Ghost Man.” She was going to get the pig! She could add it to her collection and it wouldn’t look so lonely anymore…If only the stupid bimbo would give it back!
“Come on. I paid you all my money for that, that’s all I’m going to get until next month! Give me my piggy.”
She thought back to what he said about her mom giving her an allowance, then shook her head. “I’m not spoiled. She gives me a little bit of the support money she gets from my father…so that in case he doesn’t feed me when I’m visiting him, I’ll be able to buy my own food. I think it’s pretty smart. And I do work for it! I clean the house a lot while mommy works, and I take care of the pigs. …I tried cooking once, but mom said I wasn’t allowed to try again since the Fire Department had to come out…”
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:27 pm
Jett had no idea that Jacen and Jaina were Star Wars characters. He had seen the movies maybe a few times—he knew Luke and Han Solo and Yoda. Jacen and Jaina? No ******** clue.
He watched the little girl for a moment, then glanced around, wondering where her parents were. He still held the money and the pig out of reach—his height advantage made it terribly easy. “Why is your mother giving you support money from your father?” he asked, deciding he wasn’t going to ask about the Fire Department story. He couldn’t help but be nosy—this little girl was of handing out her life story to strangers (albeit rudely) and he was going to take advantage of every moment she was in the shop. He was certainly feeling more awake and alert now; he tore his gaze from the child’s face and glanced towards the cash register, wondering if he should really take advantage of the child’s ignorance and naivety to make a few extra bucks and sell the pig.
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:15 pm
“What do you mean why? Because my father doesn’t live with my mom and me. They’re not married and she is the one raising me…she gets support money from him to help take care of me, and sometimes taking care of me is giving me my allowance.”
The child had a pout now, standing on her tiptoes, trying to get the pig. “Look, old guy. Give me my pig or I’m going to call the police and tell them that you’re withholding my goods that I paid for. They’ll take you to jail like you deserve.” Sure, she didn’t think that any police man would believe her, but she hoped the threat would get the mean shop keeper to give her back her pig…she’d start crying if it got to that point…oh! Or run to tell her mom. She was sure that her mom would get her pig.
“Come on. I paid for it…you can’t just keep it from me, you meanie.” Millicent was quickly becoming more and more unhappy.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:31 am
Old guy, really? This child was absolutely ridiculous. "Kid, do I look old to you? --And do you really think the cops would believe a little brat like you over me? I could tell them I caught you trying to steal this pig. So don't you pick a fight with me," he huffed.
...But, seriously. He didn't want any trouble. It's not like his record was totally clean, but he wasn't going to let this little brat worry him. When it came to sweet talking the authorities, Jett was absolutely a professional.
"I'm just making conversation. Come with me over to the register, I'll get you a bag and, I don't know, some pennies or something."
She was a little girl, so maybe he could shut her up and amuse her with some loud, jingly, essentially worthless coins in exchange for these lovely bills. "Just don't touch anything else, all right? I don't want you breaking anything."
Jett moved away from the little girl, careful to lower neither the bills nor the pig to actually be in her reach as he turned his back and walked towards the register.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:15 am
“If you had caught me stealing the pig, why are you holding my thirty dollars, hm? You’re the one who’s the thief.” She sounded completely sure of herself. She wanted the pig, and now she was starting to doubt herself for giving him all of her money. Thirty dollars was a lot! That was three new toy lightsabers…and that was a lot!
She followed him to the cash register and scowled. “Pennies, Mister? Really? I’m not five. I don’t want pennies. How much is the pig anyway? Don’t take all my money. I have to go to the toy store later…I need to get myself another lightsaber.”
The thin ones were easier to maneuver…but they were very brittle and broke much easier then the older models. She wasn’t sure she liked the newer lightsabers.
“You shouldn’t be mean and take little girl’s money…just because my weakness is pigs…you shouldn’t…explode that.” She meant exploit, she really did, but she didn’t even seem to realize she had tripped the two words up, eyes focused on Jett.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:49 pm
“Kid,” Jett said, eyes snapping up at her. “Seriously. Just stop talking for, you know, five seconds.”
He was used to dealing with grumpy old coots who wanted to haggle and chip down the price, but some kid? Who apparently wasn’t five years old, but what the hell did Jett know; he couldn’t ******** tell the difference. Until they hit puberty, they all looked the same to him.
Behind the register, he set the pig down on the counter and went to fish out some change.
The pig was more than thirty dollars—easily. But the pig had been here, untouched, for ages. Jett gave it another look over; it still looked like a piece of s**t. “…Anyway, it’s ‘exploit’, not ‘explode’. Don’t use words improperly, you’ll make a bad impression and people will think you’re dumb. But.”
The register opened and he mentally calculated how much he actually wanted to charge the girl for this pig. “You said your dad doesn’t live with you? Where’s your mom. She just lets you run around without a parent?”
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 1:21 pm
Millicent looked up at him, face set in a pout. He was so…mean! When he mentioned her using the wrong word she just rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. “You can explode someone for money too. Duh. If they explode, they won’t need their money anymore. It makes perfect sense.
As he moved to the topic of her mother and father she just shrugged, eyes set on the pig. “Well, Mom and Dad were never married, they really don’t like one another much. I was a mistake that happened to them in college, daddy said. Mommy says I wasn’t a mistake though, so that’s good. And, no she doesn’t let me run around. Today’s our shopping day, she’s next door buying candles…I just saw the pig and she let me come in to look at it, I have to go right back over when I’m done.”
She was sure her mom would be proud! After all, she was buying this out of her own money!
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 1:54 pm
Jett supposed you could explode someone for money, though wondered how you were to explode them and not their money. He decided not to question it; if the girl wanted to ‘explode’ people for money, let her.
Besides, everything she said after that was far more interesting.
His eyes flicked up and he listened as Millie spoke about her parents. In some ways, he found himself relating to her, despite several clear differences. A few things remained—a jackass father, a single mother.
And here he was, taking money from some little girl for a pig nobody was ever going to buy anyway. He looked at the ugly thing and sighed.
Jett was not necessarily a sympathetic fellow. He didn’t really care about starving children in Africa, or mass genocides, or people getting mugged in the street—he just didn’t have an emotional investment.
But.
Jett was very fond of his mother, who had gone through great lengths to keep him fed and clothed and sheltered and loved, and she had been a single parent. He hesitated fingers resting atop the countertop. He tapped with an index finger as he thought, and then just sighed. “What’s your name, kid?”
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 2:59 pm
She blinked, not expecting such a question from this evil miser man. “I’m…Millicent. But Everyone calls me Millie most of the time, Mom only calls me Millicent when I’m in trouble…which happens sometimes…”
Millie shrugged then looked up at Jett with a questioning gaze. “And what’s your name, Mister? Why do you care what my name is, huh? Are you gonna kidnap me or something? I’ll be able to call the cops for that, you know. And they’ll believe me…besides, I’m a Jedi, so I’d be able to get away, I’m sure.”
She didn’t really think he would kidnap her. She didn’t have anything special right now, but, after that one time at the mall…she wanted to be cautious…Her mom got that through her skull at least. She shouldn’t trust everyone…especially when they held pigs away from her!
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