by J. A. Areces
Chapter 2
Sunday
The small store was located in Downtown Mount Dora and was difficult to find. It was a two-story, wooden house with a high-pitched roof, and a wrap-around porch. Large windows looked out onto the busy street and wind chimes sounded in the gentle breeze. No large sign to draw in customers or anything else to show the way, just a sun-faded, hand carved wooden sign, “Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store,” hung over the front door.
Jesse Alexander considered it an odd name for a costume shop, especially one that wasn’t on a corner. The store was tucked between two office buildings occupied on the street level by cute stores and outdoor cafés. The buildings brought a lot of movement to the area; its occupants and customers strolling across the small stores at all hours of the day. In the evenings, a movie theater, small cafés and ice cream shop kept the commercial square busy. However, that was not the case for Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store.
Mount Dora was a small, tourist town known for its antiques and wonderful weather. The town was named after a large lake that attracted fishing and water-sport activists throughout the year. Downtown Mount Dora was small and quaint, with the largest hotel perched on the edge of the lake. Honeymooners or weary travelers sat underneath the vast porch on comfortable rocking chairs, sipping cool drinks as they watched the sun slip behind the lake. Railroad tracks ran through the central park dividing the town, but no train crossed through these parts since WWII. Visitors used to be able to take a ride on the local tourist train that carried them around the lake and back into town, but that was way before Jesse arrived in town.
Occasionally, a historical area fan came by and peeked into the store. The old house was well known as a historical building and dated back to the late 1800s.
Years ago many of the old houses in Mount Dora were converted into commercial properties. Some were now used as Bed and Breakfasts, ice cream shops, antique stores, specialty stores, and professional offices for doctors, lawyers, and realtors. Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store was no exception. The only difference being that very few changes w made to its original design. At the beginning, Jesse thought that this was the only reason anyone ever came by, however, he changed his mind as Halloween drew closer.
Most of the store’s business was conducted through the Internet. That must’ve been the reason Jesse obtained the position as sales clerk. In fact, Jesse was the only employee. Jesse arrived at work by 9:00 a.m. every day of the week, and opened the store at 10:00 a.m. From day one he was given full and complete responsibility. The keys were his to take home. He applied for the job over the Internet on a Saturday, submitting his resume, detailing his previous computer and sales experience, and within two hours he was hired. That was six months ago. What Jesse found most peculiar was that after six months of being hired, he still hadn’t met his boss, Mr. Claw.
Who was Mr. Claw? Don’t ask Jesse; he didn’t have a clue. Their only means of communication was through the Internet. To be honest, Jesse never really cared much to meet Mr. Claw. He did his job and was paid well for his service. He was left alone. It was exactly the type of job Jesse was looking for. Jesse wanted to be alone. He recently graduated from high school and wanted some time off to think. Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store was the perfect place to be left alone and think. Mount Dora was the perfect place to be alone. The town was just far enough from the big city to be away from home, but if needed he could easily be back home within a couple of hours. It was the ideal work environment for him - busy, but not too busy; and quiet, but not too quiet.
What did Jesse want to think about? He didn’t know. He just knew that he needed to get away, and “find myself.” So, when he read the employment ad in his local newspaper, on the first weekend after his high school graduation, he thought to himself, why not? and applied. The response was quick, and prevented him from thinking too much about the move. He loaded up his motorcycle and made the big transfer to Mount Dora.
By the time he reached the front door to Alivan’s Wizard and Witch Corner Store, an envelope was waiting with information to a small apartment rented out for him by Mr. Claw. The rent was to be deducted from his pay.
Really, who was Mr. Claw? Jesse wasn't concerned. In fact, Jesse wasn’t concerned about much of anything. That was the problem. Nothing really motivated him. He was an honor roll student without having even tried; learning came easy to him. He just didn’t feel challenged. Nothing really held his interest. Jesse excelled at music, sports, and every other extra-curricular activity he tried, but quickly bored of all of it. He was loved by his teachers, coaches and the entire student body - elected by his peers as president of his class and Homecoming King. However, to Jesse, everything was just okay. The only thing that held his interest was computers. In the vast world of computers and the Internet, he could escape for hours. It was this interest that gave him an edge in computer class, and eventually helped him land this job.
The responsibilities of his job were not difficult. Jesse arrived at the store by 9:00 a.m., an hour before the store opened, to fill the daily Internet orders. Most of the customers placed their orders online. However, since the first few days of October, Jesse found himself having to attend to a few walk-in shoppers searching for the perfect Halloween costume.
The store was full of different types of flying brooms, all ranging in price and bragging about speed and weight; an assortment of pointy male and female hats adorned the walls. Mannequins, covered in the latest style of wizardry robes, decorated the huge display window at the front of the store. A large glass display contained a vast and very unique selection of hand-carved wands. These distinctive wands were the store’s claim to fame. It was not uncommon for customers to gaze into the display for long periods of time, or to take an hour in making the ultimate wand selection.
Most of the time, Jesse sat behind the large desk that served as a counter; working on an Apple laptop. A printer, cash register and answering machine accompanied the laptop on the desk. A small stereo system sat on a shelf behind him, with two dusty speakers, that played his favorite tunes from CDs or local radio stations.
Jesse was amazed at how many customers ordered online from the store’s website, www.alivanswizardsnwitchescornerstore.com. Orders came in from all over the country, but most of the customers were from the Northeast. Boston, Salem, and New York were big customer hubs. He took orders from these cities almost daily. Wands were the big sellers, followed by hats and cloaks, and lastly, flying brooms - - a good thing, because the brooms were the most difficult items to pack and ship.
He especially enjoyed the odd names of some of the regular customers that he dealt with; Nicholas Fidgewidge, Mily Breezy and Yolanda Roundbottom.
Yolanda Roundbottom was the most idiosyncratic of the three. She was always ranting and raving how much she loved being a witch - very peculiar.
Mily Breezy was eccentric, but nice. She claimed to teach magic at a private school for girls.
Of the three, Nicholas Fidgewidge, by far, was the most bizarre. Not because of what he said or what he claimed to do, but because of the inexplicable uneasiness caused by his orders. Or, maybe it was the suspicious boxes that he’d constantly have delivered to Mr. Claw.
It was Sunday morning; a week before Halloween, and the town of Mount Dora was busy preparing for the annual Halloween Festival. The event was huge, drawing Halloween fans from all over. They crowded the streets, parks and restaurants. All the local hotels were sold out for the event.
To make matters more chaotic, the nearby big city theme parks also catered to Halloween fans which in turn attracted more people to the vicinity, many of whom eventually drifted into Mount Dora.
Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store was never busier. Customers were coming in and out of the store all day. The orders over the Internet doubled, requiring two daily pick-ups from UPS j
ust to get the orders out on time. Thank goodness that Jesse was good at logistics. He quickly and easily assessed the situation and developed the necessary procedures so that everything remained manageable. What he didn’t anticipate was the increase in deliveries for Mr. Claw, from Nicholas Fidgewidge. They were all marked “Extremely Fragile Handle, With Utmost Care”, and the UPS man insisted that Jesse not handle these boxes.
Jesse was given strict instructions from Mr. Claw not to open any packages addressed to him. Even odder was that he was to leave the packages at the top of the stairs, in front of the locked door that lead to Mr. Claw’s office.
It was about 3:00 p.m. when Jesse glanced out the window for a quick distraction from the laptop screen. As usual, by Sunday afternoon things died down in Downtown Mount Dora. Most of the shops and even the restaurants were closed. Parents and children casually made their way to Donnelly Park. The younger ones enjoyed walking in front of Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store to window shop. The boys all begged their mom to buy them the newest flying broom model, the Stealth, which claimed to fly faster than the previous year’s model. The girls loved to try on the different hats for witches. It was an exciting time with Halloween just around the corner.
Jesse was full of the Halloween spirit and even decorated the store with pumpkins and scarecrows. He sent Mr. Claw an email requesting permission to host a Halloween costume contest on the premises for the small children, with a broom or hat going to the winner. There was no response yet, which was odd since Mr. Claw usually responded right away.
Jesse gazed out the window next to his desk as town folk or shoppers strolled up and down the sidewalk. He tried to remember what he was thinking about, and just then he noticed something unusual. Across the street, underneath the lamppost, in front of the movie theater stood a very strange looking man dressed in a long, dark cloak; wearing a large grey pointy hat; and holding, what appeared to be, a long staff. The stranger stood motionless looking straight through the window directly at Jesse.
