New to the Business
Feb. 3rd, 2019 03:24 amOn AO3.
A weathered cupboard stacked with tools, clay pots, leaned off-kilter beside the witch’s door.
Derek knocked.
Silence.
Knocking more firmly, “Madam Maybelle?” he called.
An alarming sequence of crashes, slams, and what sounded like someone falling every other step, followed.
“Madam Maybelle’s not in! Apprentice Mieczysław Stilinski!” A breathless young man, no older than Derek, opened the door. “At your service!”
“D-Derek Hale?”
“Pick-up for the Hale sisters! Yes! The menses tea!”
The boy flailed away, returned, packet in hand.
Derek paid, turned back toward the road.
“Come again!” he heard.
Derek doubted he’d mind repeating this chore next month.