Gulfstream Beach, FL ~ 1993
Attention Kmart shoppers… -Every Kmart manager
James was finishing his shift at Kmart, one of the few he had lately with Kate, pushing the floor mop up and down the aisles. Kate kept smiling stupidly at him whenever they would cross paths, and he finally realized he might be ‘crushing hard’ on her too, as she might say. Despite her smiles, and another pack of Skittles she playfully put in his back pocket that day, he still thought she could never really like him.
“Hey, Slim Jim, make sure you clean up the toy aisle before your shift ends,” Joe said.
“OK, Joe, no problem,” James said. “I’ll go rescue all the Barney dolls from getting run over by the floor waxer.”
As he crossed the store he saw a flash of green from the corner of his good eye. He turned and looked to see the all-too-familiar man in the green shirt. When he looked over, the man stopped and said, “Excuse me, young man. Do you know if you carry cartridges for Mont Blanc pens?”
James noticed the distinct upgrade in his writing utensil. “I’m afraid not, sir. Those are a pretty high-end item. But I can special order it for you.” James looked him right in what he thought was his good eye.
The man glanced down at James’s name tag. “Yes, please do, Jim. Thank you.”
“OK,” James said. “I’ll go get the catalog and special order form. I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time.”
As James walked to the front desk, he thought of the man’s face, which he hadn’t been able to shake for weeks. But now instead of revulsion and shame, he felt a sudden kinship with this stranger, who was undoubtedly successful if he could afford that kind of pen. He returned with the form and a clipboard.
“Name please?”
“Brian Schwartz, Esquire.”
James was confused. “Like the magazine?” He looked up.
“Yes, but not in that way.” He chuckled. “Just a title meaning ‘lawyer.’”
“Oh, right.” James wondered why the heck a lawyer would shop at Kmart.
“Haven’t I seen you occasionally at the Huxley Center? I’m the Director there, among other things,” Brian said.
“Oh, yes, I volunteer a little there, mostly reading with Edward. He’s great.”
Brian’s face went dark. “I see. Yes, Edward is certainly impressive.” His face brightened again. “Anyway, I sense we have a few things in common, Jim.” He winked his bad eye. “We Cyclopses should stick together. Watch out for each other, if you know what I mean.”
A slight shiver ran through James’s body just as Kate turned the corner. “There you are, Jim. We gotta clean up the toy aisle or Big Joe’s gonna freak.” She looked up and saw Brian. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“I know just what you mean, Miss…” he found her name tag, “...Kate. Jim here was just ordering some pen refills for me.”
“Oh yeah,” James said, exchanging glances with Kate, who hurried away while he completed the special order. “OK, all set. It should be here in a week or so.”
“Tell me, Jim, if I pay for it now, would you be so kind as to bring it to my office at the Huxley Center?”
“Uh, sure, I guess, Mr. Schwartz. Just take this copy of the form to the register to pay.”
“Many thanks, Jim. See you soon.”
“OK, bye.” James walked to join Kate in the toy aisle.
“Just in time to pick up the last Barney, you slacker,” Kate said.
“Just helping paying customers, that’s all.”
“Is it me or was that guy a little creepy?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. Didn’t you recognize him from before?”
“What do you mean. Before when?”
“That’s the green-shirt guy! The same guy with the bad eye that I saw the day, you, well, I mean we, uh, you know, when the Skittles went flying. And stuff.” A bead of sweat appeared on James’s forehead.
Kate grinned. “I remember that day, yeah.” She looked away, her eyes suddenly sad. “Sometimes I wonder if you remember that day.”
James missed the hint. “Well that was the guy that got in my head that day. And yeah, he seems a little, um, off.”
Kate was eager to change the subject. “Hey, are you going to the prom at GCS?”
Caught off guard, but sensing danger coming, Jim tensed up. “Umm, no. No plans at least.” He faced her, confused. “Why, are you?”
“Well, Billy asked me,” Kate said quietly.
“Oh. OK. Billy Snyder? He’s pretty cool, for a jock at least. He used to go to GCS."
"Yeah I heard he dunked on you when you played a couple months ago," she teased.
"Nothing much to brag about, dunking on the one-eyed bench-warmer in garbage time. Plus your whole team dunked all over us. Oceanside Public versus Gulfstream Christian has always been a lions versus Christians kind of match up anyway." James said. "I’m sure you and Billy will have fun.”
James felt a sudden urge to check if the next aisle needed any tidying. He looked over, but his feet wouldn’t move.
“Jim.” He turned his head to face her. “I told him no,” Kate whispered.
“Oh. Wow. Really?”
“Really. I don’t want to go with Billy.” She hesitated. “I want to go with you.” A huge smile blossomed on her lips, her cheeks rose, some freckles danced, and her eyes sparkled. She put her hands on her hips and took a sassy tone. “I was wondering if maybe you were going to get around to asking me or not?”
“Oh. Well, I… Uh. Wow. Yeah.”
She laughed so loud they could hear it at the checkout registers.
“So is that you asking me? You’re so romantic.” Kate teased.
Recovering his senses a bit, James said, “Well I figured you could get a better date than me,” he lied. “And maybe you did, really. Billy’s a good guy.”
“I just told you I don’t want to go with Billy. But if you don’t want to go with me, then fine.” She turned to walk away with a knowing smile.
“Wait!” She stopped in mid-stride. “Yes! I want to go with you.” He paused. “Umm, will you go with me to prom? Uh, please?”
“I thought you’d never ask. Seriously,” she said as she turned and hugged him. James gently and awkwardly put his arms around her, feeling her warm body pressed against his. His pulse roared in his ears.
“Wow,” he said.
Joe came around the corner. “Seriously, love birds? I told you no messing around on the clock! Am I going to have to talk to Pamela about this?”
“But Joe!” Kate protested. “Jim just asked me to the prom!”
Joe roared with laughter. “Really, Slim Jim? You really asked a girl out to prom in the middle of the Kmart toy aisle? Such a romantic guy. Don’t let this one get away, Katie Did,” Joe laughed again.
“Oh I won’t,” she said. “He’s all mine.” She hung on his arm.
“OK, get out of here you two before I change my mind about telling Pamela.” Joe said. He looked at James. “Take her to a movie or something.”
“Sounds good to me!” Kate was positively bouncy.
James floated toward the breakroom in stunned silence. “What just happened?”
“I think we’re dating now,” Kate said as she retrieved a pack of Starburst from the vending machine. She handed him a pink one.
“Yeah, I guess so. Pretty cool.” James took her hand as they left the breakroom, walked up the main aisle, and out the front door.
~~~
10 minutes later James was home. “Mom! What’s for dinner?”
“There’s leftovers in the fridge for you, sweetie.”
“OK, thanks. By the way,” James tried to sound nonchalant, “I think I want to go to prom this year.”
His mother turned off the TV, exchanged glances with his dad, and patted the sofa cushion next to her. “Sit down a minute,” she said. “Well, the prom sounds like fun. Are you going with friends? Or did you ask a girl?”
He hesitated. “I’m going with Kate DeMoss.”
“Oh, Katie! Always a sweet girl. I haven’t seen her in years,” his mom said. “This is the same girl you work with, right?”
“Yes.”
His sister Becky perked up and said, “Katie DeMoss? She totally had a crush on you back in elementary school. I guess she still does! Wait til the girls at school hear this!”
“No need to spread gossip, honey,” Mom said.
“It isn’t gossip if it’s true! We’ve got two lovebirds right here!” Becky had a wicked grin.
“Well, I see her dad mowing the lawn now and then,” Dad said. “And at the fishing pier some. Pretty nice guy.”
“I’m sure you’ll have fun.” Mom said. She looked over at his sister. “Becky, will you please go load the dishwasher? Its your turn tonight.”
“Mom, really? I wanted to watch the rest of Cheers.”
“Don’t sass your mother!” Dad nearly yelled.
“Fine! I guess I’m just a slave around here. Feel free to shove some food and water under my door.” Becky stomped off.
His mom turned to look at James. “Jimmy, we wanted to ask you if you’ve thought about the surgery. No pressure, but the fiscal year for the insurance is up next month, and the insurance plan is changing, so if we do it soon we won’t have to pay as much.”
“Oh.” James stopped and thought of Kate. He thought of the inevitable prom pictures, and how much better they would look together if his eyes were straight. He thought of Brian Schwartz too, and didn’t want to be anything like him. He thought of Edward, and of the man Jesus healed.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” James heard himself say.
“Really? Oh, OK, good.” Mom said. “I’ll call tomorrow and make an appointment to meet with the eye doctor.” She stopped and looked at him, and over at her husband. “You know we love you no matter what.”
“I know. Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad. We’ll see how this goes.”
“We shall see indeed, my boy,” Dad said.
His mom reached over and gave him a hug, caught the scent of a strange perfume, and smiled. “Our baby boy is growing up.”