Chapter 5

Todd was nervous and he couldn't help it.Being nervous was one of the few things that demon felt, except on the extreme rare occasion when said demon was fighting something stronger than it. Todd's reason for being nervous was the number of people at the grocery store.

"You'll be fine, Todd," said Annette as she grabs a grocery cart from the cart corral. She puts her purse in the baby seat. Annette reaches over and pats Todd on his shoulder. "I'll make sure that no one is mean to you."

Todd, with better judgment, decided to use a little bit of his magic to hide his horns. That was all he was going to hide and nothing else about him. As they make their way to the front doors of the grocery store, he could already tell that people were staring at them.

"Annette is out of the house? Is good to see her but..."

"Is that Todd? That can't be Todd, it's..."

Todd focused a bit to tune out the people who were whispering about him. Listen too much and you may hear more than you want.

Annette pushes the cart through the doors of the grocery store. There were already people in the store but since it was still a bit early in the day, it wasn't as crowded. "May I see the list, Todd?"

Todd pulls out the list from his pants pocket and hands it to Annette. He could see people out of the corner of his eye whispering and pointing at him and Annette.

Annette turns down one of the isles to get the first item on the list: cereal. She was about to grab a box of Lucky Charms off of the shelf when she hears someone call her name.

"Nettie!"

Annette turns towards the source of the voice and sees one of her friends walking towards her. "Betty so good to see you," said Annette.

Betty was about to ask Annette how her days has been but as soon as she sees Todd, her facial expression does a one-eighty. "Nettie, what is that thing?! What the hell?!"

"Betty you remember my grandson, Todd? He finally got a chance to visit me again after all these years," said Annette with a smile.

"Nettie that's not your grandson. That's...." Betty 'bites' her tongue before she could finish her sentence. She looks at Annette and sees how happy she is. Everyone in town knew that And hasn't been as happy in years, ten years to be exact, since her husband passed away. Against her better judgment, Betty decided to play along with the game. "That cannot be Todd, Annette. He was only to your hip when we all last seen him. His grown so much," said Betty.

Todd heard the lie in Betty's voice and boy did that lie make his ears burn. But he could see why she lied and chose to do the right thing.

Annette puts the box of Lucky Charms in the cart. "It is good to see you, Betty. Todd and I have to finish our shopping. We'll catch up later." She pushes the cart down the aside, Todd followed after her.

Todd looks back at Betty. He sees her staring daggers at him and he smirks at her, making Betty jump. Betty is going to be interesting to deal with later on, Todd thinks to himself. Over the countless times he has been summoned over the years, he noticed a pattern with humans. There were both good and bad humans. It's not easy to tell who is what but Todd could tell that Betty would be one of those who will cause a problems for either him or Annette or both.

Annette was busy looking at the fresh vegetables when Todd sudden appears by her side holding a container of chicken bullion, making Annette jump. "Good gracious, Todd, don't do that. You could give me a heart attack!"

"Sorry about that. Went to grab one of the items you needed on the list." Todd looks over at the vegetables and feels his stomach turn to a knot. Thats one thing he never got used to about being summoned. Sometimes the summoner would make him eat what they ate or make him eat what they thought demons would eat. Todd knew he would have to deal with it til the end. "Do we really need vegetables?" Todd asks.

"We only need some until spring. Once the snow thaws, we can start planting vegetables in the garden again, Todd. I remembered the last time you helped me in the garden. That was the last time you visited, back when you were four years old."

Annette picks out a few tomatoes, cucumbers, ears of corn, and carrots. "You had on a pair of blue shorts and a yellow t-shirt that day. I showed you how to dig up the ground to plant some hyacinth and daffodils. You got covered in mud that day too," said Annette with a laugh. "That was also the last time I got to see you as well. Your father and I got into a very bad argument. Him and his wife left in such a huff, taking you with them. You cried and cried, you wanted to stay and help me in the garden. I never felt so sad in my life other than the day Arthur passed away." She wipes the tears from her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Todd. I really should've prattle on about sad memories."

"It's okay, Annette. You have me to help you now," said Todd. He pulls a kleenex out of Annette's purse and hands it to her. "Dry your eyes. We still have a full day ahead of ourselves. I still need to show you that little Café that's downtown. I've been wanting to take you there for years...."

Todd listens to Annette ramble on about the drinks and pastries served at the Cafe's and when the best times to go. He laughs to himself. Todd knew Annette would be different than his other summoners and different wasn't always bad.