The Spirit House(1)

Author：Zhe San Ye

When I was in college, I met a middle-aged rich woman on social media. She was very kind to me. She always gave me money and intimately called me "little boy".

She said that she was born and raised in the countryside just like me. She liked me, and thus she would lead me to fortune after I graduated.

I thought she was joking. However, she really came to me in a Porsche Cayenne when I graduated.

I called her Ms. Chambers. She set up a small grocery store in my village, asked me to work there, and would offer me 3,000 dollars per month.

Although the salary was quite a deal, I was a little disappointed to work at such a small store as a college graduate. But I agreed eventually because Ms. Chambers promised that she would open a few department stores downtown for me to manage after I was familiar with the work here.

This store was different from other ones. It was quite old-school.

Groceries were sold in bulk in large gunny sacks.

The store also sold cigarettes and alcohol, but for cigarettes, it only sold one brand, which was American Spirit.

I asked Ms. Chambers to sell some cheap cigarettes because people in the village weren't rich, but she didn't agree and insisted that the store would only sell American Spirit cigarettes.

She was the boss, so I had nothing to say.

Ms. Chambers also told me that she would not pay my salary directly. If I needed money, I could directly use the cash received from customers as long as I kept accounts on my own. She was busy with other business, but she trusted me.

She also told me not to show it to other employees when I took the money, so as not to make them jealous.

I didn't want to let down someone who treated me so well. I swore to myself that I would do a good job.

I came on the first night of the store. The clerk who worked at the store during the day was an old woman. She was hard of hearing, so it was very difficult to talk to her.

The old lady couldn't even open the doors properly. There were two old wooden doors, and she just left one open while the other one closed. I wanted to open all the doors when I arrived, but she stopped me and mumbled in a dialect that was not the local language. I couldn't understand it at all and almost lost my temper with her.

Helplessly, I called Ms. Chambers, only to be told not to open all the doors.

Therefore, I had to keep the doors the same.

It was 8 pm when I took over.

I turned on the light. But with only the glow of the old-fashioned incandescent bulb hanging high above the ceiling, the store was still dim.

I didn't mind. Not long later, the first customer came in.

It was a young man. He asked me for a pack of American Spirit.

When I handed it to him, I felt a little uncomfortable since his hands were dirty with black mud in his nails.

I couldn't help but mutter in my heart, "What a dirty guy!"

Then, some other shoppers came and bought cigarettes and grains.

However, they all had filthy muddy nails, including the girls.

I wondered if there was a factory nearby that processed sludge.

At midnight, an old acquaintance came.

It was my high school classmate, Fiona White. It surprised me that she happened to shop here, and her nails were also filthy.

It was odd because she was a neat person in my memory.

I couldn't help asking her, "Buddy, do you work at a factory nearby?"

She studied me carefully and finally recognized me. Then she smiled at me and said, "Are you Paul Lee? Well, I work at a clothing factory... You own this store?"

When I heard this, I was even more confused. There were indeed a few clothing factories nearby, but I had never heard that workers making clothes had such dirty fingernails.

I responded, "It's owned by a friend. I'm working here."

"Then don't work here anymore. You're a good-for-nothing to work at such a little store. I can't believe you are at the bottom of the heap now."

Fiona's words were quite offensive. I remembered she was not the kind of person who spoke so rudely. I replied perfunctorily, "I'll play it by ear. Don't smoke too much. You didn't smoke several years ago as I remember. "

"Yeah, long time no see... Anyway, thanks. Let me give you one of these. "

Fiona opened the pack and gave me a cigarette. Then she left.

I leaned back in the chair and lit the cigarette. However, I choked the instant I took a puff.

Was this a cigarette?

What a terrible musty taste.

Then I found the cigarette extremely soft and damp, seemingly expired.

I immediately put it out after a few coughs.

Could Ms. Chambers be selling fake cigarettes here?

I would be screwed if it was the case! How could I deal with those displeased customers then?

Besides, Fiona was my old classmate. That was so embarrassing.

I was a little worried that Fiona would come back, but she didn't for a whole night.

The next morning, the old lady came to change shifts with me.

I took a little cash from the counter and did the accounts. Then, I went to an inn for a rest after I had breakfast.

I was very hard up, so that inn was a perfect place for me because it provided free food.

When I came to work in the evening, Fiona came again.

I was a little embarrassed as I saw her, so I apologized to her for the cigarette yesterday.

"What's wrong with the cigarette?" asked Fiona.

"Didn't you feel it strange?"

"No, it smelled good."

She said it "smelled good" rather than "tasted good"?

I got it.

Perhaps she didn't know how to smoke at all. She just smoked without inhaling.

No wonder she didn't find out how bad it tasted.

She asked me for another pack of cigarettes. I threw it to her and said, "Don't smoke if you don't know how to do it. It's harmful anyway."

She thanked me and gave me one cigarette again. Then she looked into my eyes and asked, "Why haven't you resigned yet?"

"What?"

"It's so useless to work here. Didn't you say yesterday that you would quit?"

I said helplessly, "The salary is not bad. Can you stop? Your words hurt me."

She looked like she wanted to say something but stopped on second thought. In the end, she said, "At high school, you were adept at studying, so I thought you would get a decent job. However, you end up working as a store assistant. You are nothing now. Don't lower yourself. Resign as soon as possible."

Her words were even more offensive.

Just as I was about to argue with her, she left in a hurry.

After she left, I took a puff of the cigarette she had given me. The taste was still disgusting, so I snuffed it out at once.

When it was almost dawn, a beautiful woman came in.

Unlike other customers, this beautiful lady was neat. She was wearing a floral dress, her long hair flowing over her shoulders. She was extraordinarily attractive.

She looked a little familiar to me, but I couldn't remember who she was.

Perhaps I had seen her somewhere before. After all, such a stunning appearance would impress itself on my mind.

She also asked me for a pack of American Spirit cigarettes. I found it interesting to see such a beautiful woman smoke.

She paid and then left.

As soon as she walked out, my phone rang.

It was Ms. Chambers.

She asked me about my work with concern. I told her it was okay.

She then asked, "how much have you expended yesterday?"

"12 dollars."

"How much cash is in the counter drawer now?"

I opened the drawer and counted the cash. "140 dollars," I answered.

Ms. Chambers told me that there was not enough alcohol in the store, so she requested me to buy 150 dollars of alcohol to replenish stocks during the day. She told me to spend the cash in the counter drawer and pay for the rest by myself, and then I would be reimbursed when there was more cash received.

I agreed.

Just as I had hung up the phone, Fiona came back.

I thought she came back to apologize for offending me, but the instant she entered, she said, "Paul, can you treat me to that pack of cigarettes? Give me back the money I just gave you."

I was dumbfounded. She didn't mean to apologize and even wanted me to treat her?

She had bought a pack of American Spirit. I suppressed my anger and was about to return 10 dollars to her. However, she continued to ask, "Can you treat me every time I come?"

Hearing this, I seized the opportunity to fight back with sarcasm, "Buddy, didn't you say that I was at the bottom of the heap? You work in the factory, yet you ask me, a good-for-nothing, to treat you. Isn't it inappropriate?"

Fiona paused for a while. In the end, she said shamelessly, "Stop dawdling! Give the money back to me quickly. I'm your old classmate, so it's not a big deal to treat me, isn't it? Don't be so stingy!"

What the heck?

She was being annoying!

I was so angry but I don't want to argue with her, so I simply returned the money to her and grumbled, "Don't buy cigarettes from me anymore, then."

However, she insisted, "No, I'll keep buying them from you, and each pack is on you. Be generous."

She left after that, which really irritated me.

How shameless she was!

I stayed in the store until sunrise and then took the cash to buy alcohol. Originally, the out-of-pocket expense for the alcohol was 10 dollars, but now it became 20 dollars because of Fiona.

But it didn't matter. I could just take tomorrow's newly received cash as reimbursement.

Ms. Chambers told me where to purchase the alcohol. It was a wholesaler in a remote alley in the town. There were only very few buyers.

She told me that this wholesaler was owned by her friend, so it was relatively cheap to purchase goods here.

I walked inside and saw a young man. I told him that I was a clerk at Ms. Chambers' store. He smiled and chatted with me for a while. He said I could simply call him Sam.

After I finished the purchase at Sam's wholesaler, I felt sleepy and hungry. I noticed that an inn nearby offered a buffet dinner, so I went there and slept until the evening.

When the buffet started in the evening, I went to get some food. Suddenly, someone patted me on the shoulder. I looked back and found that it was my high school classmate, Cody Alston.

I exclaimed in surprise, "What a coincidence to see you here!"

Cody chuckled, "It isn't hard to bump into each other in such a small town."

That was true. Then, I sat down with him for dinner. Cody asked me with a lascivious smile if I was having fun with a call girl here. I laughed and replied, "I'm here only to get some rest."

He suddenly sighed, "In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed since we graduated from high school. And we haven't organized a reunion for all these years."

Unexpectedly, I felt uncomfortable.

My stomach started to ache.

Maybe it was due to the food.

Suffering from the distending pain, I couldn't help but rub my stomach. I murmured, "I don't want a reunion. Some classmates are so annoying."

"Who annoyed you?"

"Fiona White. She seems to be bold-faced."

"Fiona White??"

Cody shook his head violently and said, "You've gone too far. You should at least respect the dead."

"What do you mean?" I questioned in shock.

"You said Fiona White annoyed you. But didn't she pass away long ago?" said Cody.

"Nonsense!"

I felt Cody fooling me. "When did she die? You must be joking!"

"It was when we were sophomores. You probably didn't know about it because you were studying outside our town then. A conflagration burned down a clothing factory where Fiona was working after she dropped out of high school. She died in the fire."

What he said sounded like a true story. If I hadn't seen Fiona with my own eyes in the past two days, I would have believed it.

"Bullshit. I just met her two days ago." I snorted.

Cody was very surprised. "So she's not dead? Damn it! I heard this news from other classmates. I didn't know that it was a rumor. I really thought she was dead."

It was rare for us to meet, but now I didn't want to talk to him anymore.

My stomach hurt so much that I wanted to throw up.

I stood up and rushed to the bathroom. The instant I entered the toilet, I could no longer refrain from puking.

Then, I was shocked.

The toilet was filled with scarlet vomit.

This was... blood?

Why did I vomit blood for no reason?

I was so freaked out that I wiped my mouth and went straight to the hospital in a hurry without saying goodbye to Cody.

I did a check-up in the hospital. The doctor said that I had stomach bleeding and advised me to drink less and have a healthier diet.

I was confused because I didn't drink at all. Perhaps the sickness was caused by my bad habit of staying up late to chat and play games with Ms. Chambers every day during college.

The doctor prescribed me some medicine and told me to take it for a week.

I then went back to work my shift in the store. Later, Fiona came again.

This time, she brought a few friends, all of whom were customers I had met before.

"Paul, give each of us a pack of American Spirit. It's your treat."

Her excessively straightforward demand for my treat infuriated me.

I had already treated her yesterday, but today she asked again and even brought others with her!

Because of her insatiable demand and my painful stomach, I couldn't hold back my anger at all. I dragged her to the back of the store.

I shouted at her furiously, "How brazen you are! Do you know how much I have to pay for all six of you if it's my treat?"

"60 dollars."

"Tell me, why should I pay 60 dollars for you?"

"I was your old classmate."

What an implausible explanation!

I said angrily, "You are my classmate, not my close girlfriend. Why should I pay for you?"

Fiona stared at me and asked, "So you would willingly pay for me if I were your girlfriend?"

"What do you mean? Don't joke with me."

"I can be your girlfriend for the time being, as long as you don't kiss me."

What was wrong with her?!

Just as I was about to curse, Fiona suddenly grabbed my hand and placed it on her breast!

I was petrified.

Her body was as cold as ice. I didn't know if it was because of the freezing wind at night. At this time, she gazed at me and said, "Now that you've touched me. I'm your girlfriend now. Treat us."

What the hell...

I couldn't bring myself to curse now.

Instead, I felt extremely embarrassed.

I returned to the store full of shyness and gave them six packs of American Spirit.

I was not the type of obscene man who would spend money to feel a woman up.

But I felt that I would hurt her feelings if I refused to pay for her inasmuch as I had touched her, though involuntarily.

Therefore, I had to make it clear to Fiona when she came alone next time and asked her not to do this again.

Even if Fiona and her friends had left now, my heart was still aching.

So expensive!

It cost me 60 dollars to touch her chest, not to mention that I had been forced to do that!

I kept sulking until the beautiful lady came over.

I finally felt relieved when I saw her. She seemed to have the magic to please others.