Beauty tip: Worrying causes wrinkles. Make sure not
to scrunch up your forehead when stressed.
if you think I'm kidding about this, or if you're just not listening, but selling the house may be the only way to stay in business." Grandma and Mom are talking in the back office, but the door is open, so I can hear them all the way at the front of the store, where I'm reorganizing the stationery section. "It's practically the only source of income we have."
There's a few seconds of silence, and then Mom says, "I just don't think I can do that at this stage of my life. Live in a tiny two-bedroom apartment above the store with you and Lucy. I can't do that to my daughter."
Well, at least Mom's talking some sense now. No way would I be able to live up there. Share a room with my mother? Would we have bunk beds?
They start talking more quietly, so I move closer to the office to hear them better. Then it almost sounds like they're laughing for a few minutes. I have no idea what brought that on.
"That or bankruptcy!" Grandma's voice is high at the end, almost singsong, like she's trying to make light of a horrible situation. She walks out of the office, and I pretend to be busy lining up pill bottles, but Grandma obviously knows I was listening, because she gives me that "I feel terrible" look and walks right by me without giving me any other jobs to do.
I keep up my busy-reorganizing attitude. I move on to fix up the toy section. For some reason, the noisiest toys are on the easiest-to-reach shelf. That makes no sense to me, since little kids are always touching them. So I decide to put the dolls and the board games on the lower shelves and all of the toy instruments and beeping, honking car toys on the top shelves.
I wonder what Sunny's doing now. Probably just lying on her bed, dreaming about Evan. Or maybe even watching that Charlie Brown DVD again.
Well, maybe I can't save the pharmacy overnight, but I think I can do something to help Sunny. I can ask Claudia for advice since she's already had three boyfriends. I could even ask Mom or Grandma for advice, because I feel like this is something they might know about.
But even better: I can use the pharmacy as a library! We have a pretty good selection too: Cosmo, Redbook, Glamour. All of those talk about getting a guy to like you, don't they? I've never actually read them, but I've reorganized the shelves, so I've seen the covers. Plus, Grandma gets all the teen magazines too, and those are filled with crush-snagging tips.
I feel good that I've found such a productive thing to do with my day. Helping Sunny is just as important as helping Mom and Grandma. No one can deny that.
And if I still have time when I'm done with my boy research for Sunny, I'll read another chapter in The New Beauty Secrets: Your Ultimate Guide to a Flawless Face. Laura Mercier wrote it. She's one of my idols.
There's a lot to admire about her. First of all, her goal is to accentuate a person's natural beauty through their makeup. That's my goal too. She has her own very successful makeup line, and she began her training as a makeup artist at seventeen. That's only five years away for me, and I've already started my training, even though it's not official.
I take a big stack of magazines and sit down in one of the plastic chairs. We have a makeshift area where people can wait for prescriptions, but people usually stand anyway. I don't get that. Why stand when you can sit? It's true what Mom says, that people are always in such a rush these days.
That's why no one sits at the counter anymore. Why no one orders Grandma's delicious grilled-cheese sandwiches anymore. Why our milk-shake maker was donated to the Jewish Community Center.
The pharmacy changes with the rest of society, I guess. I just wish it were different. It seems like the golden years of Old Mill Pharmacy were when I was six, seven, eight. I wonder if it will ever be like that again.
I wonder if I'm the only twelve-year-old in the world who thinks like this.
As I'm reading through the magazines, trying to find things for Sunny, I come across an interesting article: "Making Relaxation Space." It talks about devoting a corner of your house or office just to relaxation. It says you can put out candles, maybe even aromatherapy ones. You can have soft lighting and relaxing music playing too. "Make sure you steer clear of electronics," it says. "Do not have anything to distract from relaxation; make this a stress-free place."
As I'm reading, I realize that my butt is very sore from sitting on the flimsy plastic chair for so long. Maybe that's why people don't choose to sit here. Maybe they don't want to eat at the counter because it doesn't seem inviting.
Old Mill Pharmacy needs a Relaxation Room! A place where customers can go while they're waiting for prescriptions to be filled. A place that's quiet and peaceful. And we can keep the magazines there so people will actually read them and buy them!
This won't be an expensive thing, really, since the whole hunting section is empty anyway, and we have room for it. We could block it off, add some mood lighting, and we'd be set!
Maybe something like this could help get things back to the way they used to be.