The Curiosity Shop: A comedy of errors about witchcraft Read online

  Spider slowly scurried into the shop, careful to stay in the shadows. He watched the two closely as they stood near the counter. With one swift leap Spider jumped up on the windowsill, his favorite place to sit during the day and in the evening when a full moon shone brightly in the sky. But tonight his attention was on the two standing in the darkness of the shop.

  Mitch slowly caressed the side of Cassandra’s cheek and was about to bend down and kiss her, but then stopped. All he managed to do was whisper “I’m sorry” in her ear. Mitch quickly turned and left the shop, locking the door on his way out.

  He could not in all honesty start a relationship with Cassandra while Rosy was in his life. It wasn’t being honest to either woman.

  Mitch and Cassandra were so engrossed in each other that neither saw Rosy strutting by the shop, or that she saw Mitch caress Cassandra’s cheek. Rosy was not into sharing her man, even though she was close to discarding him for someone with more ambition to make money.

  Chapter 10

  Rosy didn’t have to work that night and had sought out Mitch on his beat to talk about where their relationship was going. But seeing him with Cassandra put her over the edge. Rosy stomped down the street, her face red with anger. Under normal circumstances, she would have barged into the shop and made a scene right then and there, but she wanted to make the two suffer before she ditched Mitch. No witch’s niece was going to get the better of her, not in her territory and certainly not under her nose with her man.

  Rosy shoved the pool hall door open and quickly turned to the bartender, who just looked at her curiously. Rosy strutted up the bar as if she owned the place. She turned and searched the pool tables and then looked at the bartender with a cocky expression that was not well received.

  “Is Gino here?” she asked between snapping the gum in her mouth.

  “Wasn’t my day to watch him,” was all the bartender said, while pretending to clean off an already clean bar.

  “Look asshole, I ain’t got time for chit-chat. A simple yes or no will suffice.”

  “Depends.”

  Rosy got close up to the bar and then reached for the bartender’s tie and yanked him closer as she looked him square in the eye. She may have been a small woman but she was one who was not to be reckoned with when irritated.

  “If he’s here, I have to speak to him.”

  The bartender motioned with his free hand to the door at the other end of the pool hall. It led to a room where a few of the regulars used to play poker. Gambling was illegal in the state, so a button was installed under the bar to alert the occupants of the room when the cops made an appearance. It had been years since the last raid, mostly because the close-knit group of the people who used the room knew enough to keep their mouths shut.

  “They got a card game going on in back,” the bartender said as he tried releasing Rosy’s hold on his tie.

  Rosy reluctantly let go of the tie and shoved the bartender back. “Thanks,” she snapped.

  The bartender just adjusted his tie as Rosy turned and forced a smirk and then strutted toward the back door.

  “He likes blondes anyway,” he whispered to himself.

  The bartender thought he said it low enough so she couldn’t hear, but then Rosy stopped in her tracks. She hesitated a moment and would have liked to have put the bartender in his place for the remark, but that wasn’t the reason she was there.

  Tending bar in the pool hall the bartender got to see a lot of the women in the neighborhood and he hated dealing with most of them. Especially the bitches; he knew first hand the reason so many of the men chose the solitude of the pool hall rather than going home to the little woman.

  The man standing near the door was there as a lookout. He watched the exchange between the bartender and Rosy. When she neared the door, the man just quickly knocked on the slit on the door, the peephole slid open. Rosy stood up on her tiptoes.

  “I got to talk to Gino, it’s his cousin Rosy.”

  The door-locking mechanism quickly was undone and the door swung open to the smoke-filled room. All she could make out in the distance was the circular table with the overhead light. Once she focused her eyes through the smoky room she finally saw the six men sitting around the table. Gino glanced over at Rosy and then tossed in his cards in frustration.

  “I fold,” Gino snapped in frustration. In reality his hand was a bummer and seeing Rosy was a good excuse not to waste his time trying to bluff his way through losing this pot.

  From the mist came a voice. “Sure, take all our money and then run.”

  Gino just snickered as he ignored the remark. He turned to Rosy and got up from the table. He walked over to the bar in the corner. Rosy followed him there. Gino grabbed a glass off the bar and reached for the bottle of Scotch. He offered Rosy a glass but she declined. She was too angry to deaden the pain by drinking hard liquor.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, taking a hefty swig of the hard liquid.

  “We got to talk.”

  “Can’t you see I’m busy.”

  Rosy just shook her head. “Gino, cut the crap. This is family business, and you owe it to me to take care of it.”

  Gino gulped down the remainder of the Scotch and then turned his attention back to Rosy.

  “Have you talked to Mitch for me?”

  “I’m working on him,” she said and then leaned on the bar and looked up at Gino with pleading eyes. “But if you don’t take care of this, I’m afraid it’s going to be hard to convince him to look the other way.”

  Gino set the glass down and poured another shot and then he turned back to Rosy. “Okay, so what do you want me to take care of for you?”

  “You know The Curiosity Shop on the corner?”

  “Yeah. The shop the old woman runs.”

  “I want it gone,” Rosy said, while snapping her fingers as if it was as easy as that.

  “Gone as in how?” Gino said, looking at Rosy as if he didn’t quite understand what she was talking about. But in reality he knew exactly what she meant. He knew Rosy enough to know she didn’t mince words.

  Rosy snapped her fingers again in front of Gino’s face and then quickly replied, “As in not there anymore,” she said, in a way Gino knew she meant business.

  Gino looked at Rosy in disbelief. All the while they grew up, Rosy had a hot temper. None of the other kids in the neighborhood ever crossed her for fear of her retaliation. It surprised him when he heard she’d hooked up with Mitch. Gino remembered Mitch as always being such an even-tempered person and somehow him being with Rosy just didn’t add up. It put credence to the old saying that opposites are attracted to one another.

  “I’m a businessman. I eliminate businesses like that on a whim, and pretty soon I don’t have a business,” Gino said in a way he hoped Rosy took the hint.

  “I won’t be able to control Mitch if he keeps seeing that bitch who works there.”

  Gino finished his drink and laughed. He feared if he didn’t do something to appease Rosy she might go and do something on her own. Plus, he never figured her to go to these lengths to keep her man. Especially seeing he didn’t think she was that serious about her relationship with Mitch in the first place. He knew she hooked up with Mitch more on the rebound than anything else. She was staying with him until something better came along. It’s just that there weren’t many men in the neighborhood who could support her spending habits and he feared Mitch was at his limits, given the meager income he pulled in.

  “Oh, so that is what this is all about. You can’t keep Mitch under control and now you think I should burn that shop down so he will come running back to you?”

  “If the shop wasn’t there, she would go back to wherever she came from and he wouldn’t see her anymore.”

  “Maybe you aren’t woman enough for him.”

  Rosy raised her hand quickly but not quick enough, as Gino caught it before she could strike.

  “Cousin or no cousin. I ain’t torching that place.”
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br />   “Why?” Rosy demanded.

  Gino glanced around the room and then moved closer to her so no one else heard what he was about to say.

  “That place give me the creeps, and that old woman has history in the neighborhood or haven’t you heard?”

  Rosy looked at Gino and laughed out loud. The men at the table took notice, but then turned back to their game.

  “Do you listen to yourself?” Rosy said in disbelief.

  “I talked to her, and there was something not right with that old woman.

  Rosy shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” she snapped.

  “She was the only shop owner the Belzoni brothers never hit on,” Gino said while shaking his head. “Makes you wonder.”

  Gino reached in his pocket and pulled out the crystal. He rolled it in his hand and then showed it to Rosy. She made an attempt to touch it, but he quickly pulled his hand out of her reach and put the crystal back in his pocket.

  “Don’t, it’s mine.”

  “It’s just a piece of glass,” Rosy said, curious about the change in her cousin.

  “No, it has powers,” Gino argued. “I feel differently since I bought it.”

  Rosy stepped back and turned her head, not believing what Gino had just said. “You believe in all the crap they sell?”

  “I ain’t stepping foot in that store and I ain’t sending any of my men in there either. Not after talking to that old woman and what she said to me.”

  Rosy just shook her head. “You’re going to let her off and get away with the crap she pulls?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, that shop is off-limits. If you want anyone taken out, you’ll have to do it personally.”

  Rosy sulked a moment and then turned and walked to the door. “Maybe Rocco will feel differently.”

  Gino watched Rosy for the longest time. If she wanted to get Rocco involved, it was her prerogative. Gino didn’t think Rocco would give her the time of day, so he felt confident that the subject was closed.

  Gino reached in his pocket, pulled out the crystal, and kissed the stone for good luck. He quickly put the amethyst back in his pocket.

  Chapter 11

  Rosy sat on the couch in a scanty negligee. The lights were out, but the moonlight was still enough for her to see the clock on the wall. It had already been an hour and a half since Mitch’s shift ended, and the longer she waited the angrier she was getting. Finally the lock turned on the door and caused her to sit up.

  Mitch slowly walked in. It had been a long evening, and the accident at the end of the shift only made the day worse than it already was. He never liked having to tell parents that a drunken driver had killed their child. It made it especially worse when the kid was working his way through college and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when an idiot chose to get his fifth DUI and take a young life along in the process. Mitch saw movement on the couch. He turned to Rosy.

  “You didn’t have to wait up,” he said and then yawned.

  Rosy got up and walked over to Mitch. “I was worried about you.”

  Rosy put her hands on Mitch’s shoulders and then ran them down his chest. There was still a part of her that liked the feel of him next to her.

  “What is this really about?” Mitch asked looking at Rosy curiously.

  “I talked to Gino tonight.”

  “This is none of your business.” Mitch snapped.

  “He’s not asking you to do something half the cops don’t already do.”

  Mitch took hold of her hands and put them at her side and then looked her square in the eyes. It angered him that she chose to take her cousin’s side in all this.

  “You don’t get it, do you?”

  Rosy just stepped back and went on the defensive. It was the only thing she did with any consistency.

  “I get the fact that they beat you up. And next time it could be worse. Did you ever think about that?”

  “It’s my job.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Rosy said and then pulled Mitch to her.

  “You’re wrong,” Mitch said, shoving Rosy aside.

  Rosy turned to him and sulked. “But...”

  Mitch ignored her and just walked into the bedroom. “I’m going to bed.”

  Rosy’s eyes narrowed as she started to scheme. She was angry with Mitch, but right then was not the time to bring up the blonde bitch at the shop. In time she would bring her up, but the timing would have to be right.

  Granted, maybe working for Gino wasn’t the answer, but he had to do something else with his life so he could provide for her in a better way. She would have to bring him back into the fold, and as long as her rival was in the picture, it would be a difficult task, to say the least.

  *

  Mitch quickly undressed and crawled into bed. He could hear Rosy in the living room. He knew she was angry with him, she always slept on the couch as punishment. He didn’t really care what she did. He was thankful for being alone tonight. Mitch had a lot on his mind that needed sorting out. Most of all he questioned his relationship with Rosy and where it was going. He lay there in the quiet of the night just staring at the shadows dancing off the ceiling. He was so engrossed in them he hadn’t noticed the shadow of the cat outside his window.

  *

  Cassandra slept restlessly. She tossed and turned as a shadow outside her window moved slowly and then sat watching her through the glass. Spider usually spent the night wandering the neighborhood. Through the glass he watched Cassandra’s arms thrashing about as if struggling to get through some great resistance.

  Through the misty haze Cassandra moved swiftly to get through the underbrush. In the distance a moan could be heard. Cassandra searched through the forest. It was then she saw the strange light just ahead. It was a light she had seen often in her dreams. Cassandra tried rushing into the clearing and then when she finally broke through the thick growth, she saw Mitch standing with the bright light at his back. Cassandra reached out for him, but as she got closer, he seemed to drift further from her reach and slowly disappeared into the bright light.

  Cassandra suddenly sat up in bed. Her forehead perspired. She searched around the room and then breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was only a dream. But still, it troubled her.

  *

  Rosy quickly dressed. She was up early that morning and had a few errands to run. She quickly put on a tight-fitting sweater with a black spandex short skirt. She glanced at herself in the mirror and liked what she saw. Rosy picked up the brush and ran it through her thick dark hair. When she was done she glanced at Mitch, sleeping soundly in bed. Before leaving she tossed the brush back on the dresser and then walked out, confident she looked her best.

  Rosy strutted across the street. She quickly went into the convenience store and purchased a pack of cigarettes and then, as she passed a group of men, she heard the whistles. Rosy enjoyed the attention she was getting and as she neared The Curiosity Shop she took a deep breath. She had thought about this confrontation all night and she was ready to fight for her man at all costs. She was not going to let Mitch ditch her for that blonde bimbo.

  Lucinda busied herself dusting the shelf of crystals. She took special care of them and treated them as her babies. The door opening caused her to turn to see who it was entering her little domain.

  “Do you need guidance?” Lucinda asked in a way that startled Rosy.

  “I ain’t lost,” Rosy said, disappointed now that the blonde wasn’t there working that morning.

  Lucinda just smiled and motioned to the shelves. “What are you seeking?”

  “Oh,” Rosy said, looking apologetic. “A friend told me you sell potions.”

  “We sell specialties.”

  “I need something to keep my boyfriend’s eyes from wandering.”

  Lucinda eyed Rosy suspiciously as the young woman moved her hips in a way that emphasized her voluptuous figure.

  “I find it hard to believe he can’t keep his e
yes off you,” Lucinda said with a sheepish smile.

  “It ain’t a problem yet. I just want to make sure it never becomes a problem.”

  Spider crept into the shop with caution. When he saw Rosy, his back humped and he moved slowly up to Lucinda. Rosy glanced down at Spider and then stepped back.

  “I hate cats,” Rosy said as she pointed at Spider. “Especially them black ones.”

  “Spider is harmless,” Lucinda said sweetly as she bent down and picked up the cat. Slowly she handed Spider to Rosy.

  Rosy made a feeble attempt at petting the animal. It was not well received, as Spider just hissed and snapped at Rosy. Rosy pulled her hand back as the cat quickly swiped his front paw at Rosy.

  “Don’t you worry about bad luck?” Rosy asked.

  Lucinda laughed boisterously. Spider jumped out of Lucinda’s arms and walked to the other end of the shop and curled up into a ball. Lucinda looked up at Rosy.

  “Honey, that’s just hogwash. No truth in it what-so-ever.”

  “Don’t matter none,” Rosy snapped.

  Lucinda walked over to the shelf with the tiny bottles. She picked up one of them and held it up to Rosy.

  “This one is for unfaithful lovers.”

  “I didn’t say he was cheating.”

  It angered Rosy that Lucinda assumed her boyfriend was cheating on her. All she wanted was for Mitch to only have eyes for her. Was that too much to ask for?

  “Oh, I thought...”

  “I’m talking wandering eyes.”

  Lucinda picked up another bottle with some dry ingredients inside it. “This one should do it. You give him a pinch of this and the first woman he sees after consuming it will have his undying love. He’ll never look at another woman after that.”

  “It won’t harm him?” Rosy asked.

  “All my supplies are natural and not harmful.”

  “How much should I give him?”

  Lucinda glanced around and then leaned toward Rosy. “Just a small pinch in liquid will do.”