Good to Buy: My New Story!

Good to Buy

Timothy Caswell was lonely for most of his life. He grew up in a small town in Iowa and moved around the United States for as long as he could remember. After his mother, a wealthy land developer had died six years ago, Timothy and his father had struggled to maintain their home and happy life. Since then, he helped his father look for new jobs all around the country.

That’s why it was a big deal when his father heard about a new job in a small town in Texas from a friend. It was a small job, a cashier in an old, rickety grocery store called Good to Buy, and Timothy knew his father wouldn’t earn much, but he was grateful for it. It would mean that he and his father needn’t move to a new home about three times a year again.

“Are you sure about this, Papa?” Timothy asked when he had gotten his first look at their new home. It was small. Very, very small. The walls weren’t painted. The couches were ripped. The kitchen was filled with roaches. You could see the toilet from the living room.

“It’s all we got,” Papa told him. “Why don’t you take a look around the town? I’ll start to unpack.” Timothy hesitated. He watched his father unpack a few of his pants. 

“It’s fine, I can help you.”

“Take a look around the town, Tim,” Papa insisted. “I can manage a few pieces of clothing.”

Timothy opened their door and walked out. As his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, someone said, “You’re new here.”

Timothy jumped. A girl stood behind him. She wore a plaid pinafore dress over a plain white long-sleeve shirt with big black boots. Her hair was tied tight in two braids. Her eyes were a startling green. Her skin was pale except for the few small splotches of pink scattered on her arms and neck. The look of her gave him a strange sense of nostalgia. “You live in this place?” she asked, pointing toward the shack of a house. She scratched her neck.

“Yes,”  Timothy said. “My dad got a job at Good to Buy. We arrived here just today.”

The girl snorted. “Good to Buy? But that’s where everyone in this town works.”

Timothy raised an eyebrow. “Really? Papa said the place was looking for employees for years.”

“Well, your papa is wrong,” the girl said. “All the fathers in this town work there. They’re on their lunch break right now, though, so they’re back at their homes.”

Timothy nodded. He wasn’t one to argue with this girl. She looked like she’d lived here her entire life.

“Let’s go look!” the girl said.

“Uh… look?”

“Yeah, let’s go to the grocery store! I’ll show you the way.”

The town was old. That was the first thing that Timothy noticed. Another thing he noticed was that all the homes were bigger than his. The walls were painted. Through the windows, he could see happy families sitting on their perfect couches. He was guessing their kitchens weren’t filled with roaches. The town was old but the families were happy. 

There were old supermarkets here and there, but according to the girl (whose name was Lilli, he learned) they were all shut down. Good to Buy was the only running store the town had.

The sun bore down on them, beating against Timothy’s head. He found it hard to listen to Lilli’s blabbers.

“Here we are,” Lilli said, itching the pink welts on her arms.

Timothy looked up. The building was one-story tall, and the sickening yellow paint was peeling off, reminding him of a banana. The light-up sign flickered, and some of the letters were already shut down. The awning was ripped and the glass windows were stained.

“How… how old is this place?” Timothy asked, clearly disgusted.

“It started runnin’ the week I was born,” Lilli proudly said.

Timothy cocked his head. Lilli looked no older than twelve years old, about his age. There was no way the store was only twelve years old.

“The door will be locked,” Lilli said, “since it’s their lunch break. But I can show you the place through the window.”

She pointed through the window. The inside was more dreadful than the outside. The cash register was on a counter in the far left of the room. That’s where his father would be working starting tomorrow. There were old posters of stuffed dolls and canned beans hung up on the wall across from the windows. In the center of the store were shelves and shelves of everything from canned beans to ice cream sandwiches.

Lilli pointed at a door in the far right corner of the store. “That’s the lounge for employees. I’m always allowed to go in as long as the store is open. They’re used to me. And then the door next to that is the family bathroom.”

They spent an hour outside Good to Buy. Most of it was spent by Lilli talking about her life in the town, but Timothy couldn’t help but appreciate her friendliness.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had such a talkative friend. Then Timothy had to leave.

“I better get back to my home,” Timothy said, “Papa will need my help.”

Lilli nodded. They walked home in silence.

As Timothy opened his door, he turned back and said, “Thanks for— ”

Lilli was gone. Timothy looked around for a minute then gave up. I’ll see her tomorrow, he told himself.

“Tim, is that you?” his father called from the bedroom.

“Yeah, Papa.” Tim walked into the bedroom. It looked like it had been used for decades, but Papa had managed to make it look like home. “I met this girl today, Lilli, and she showed me around the town.”

“Did you have fun?”

Timothy talked about everything they did, but he decided to ignore the part about the families in the bigger houses. His papa was already doing everything he could.

The next day before lunch time, Timothy found Lilli again. On his roof.

“Lilli— what are you doing?”

“I’m looking at the town,” she eagerly said. “Your house is the only home I can climb on top of. And it has a great view of the entire town!” 

She pointed at a small purple-painted home near Good to Buy. “That’s where the McGullicks live,”  she said.

Timothy followed her gaze. “That house was empty yesterday when we went to see Good to Buy,” he said, looking back at Lilli.

Lilli scoffed. “Of course not. The McGullicks have lived there for years.”

Timothy shrugged. “Do you want to go inside the grocery store? It’s before noon.”

Lilli perked up. “So the employees are still at work! Let’s go!”

Tucking her right foot into the gutter, she used her arms and left foot to shimmy herself down the drain pipe. Within seconds she was on the ground.

“Let’s go!” she repeated.

Part 2 on my next post!