Magnolia Blooms & Sakura Petals
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman

-7-
McDade's Corner Market

I'd quickly discovered that if I was going to make an honest effort at being “Heather” I would need to do a total reorganization of my life. Not building my life from scratch of course. But giving both sides of my life room to maneuver. I knew I would have the freedom to explore because my mom believed in the whole laissez faire style of parenting. As long as I stayed out of trouble with the law, did not add or subtract from the population of Greenville and kept at least a “B” average in all my classes. My mother was content to leave me alone to my own devices.

My older sister’s only concern was that I was spending too much time in front of a television screen and that I needed to go outside and touch the grass and get some sun on me. To that end she kept giving a never ending list of chores to do. Each chore came with a small cash reward. For example since my little shopping spree at the “Greenville Bazaar” I'd power washed the driveway and the sidewalk. That little chore had netted me one hundred dollars.

Of course mom approved of this, to her paying me a hundred dollars to power wash the driveway and the brick sidewalk was better than getting somebody else to do it, somebody else would charge up to a hundred and thirty dollars. To her she was saving thirty dollars. She also thought I was learning a useful skill. I also discovered there was no rhythm or reason behind how much each chore was worth.

Power washing the driveway and the brick sidewalk out front could be worth a hundred dollars, power washing the walkway that leads from the concrete patio section to the pool deck could only be worth twenty dollars. Power washing the pool deck could be worth sixty dollars, the fence could be worth only thirty dollars. Painting the fence could be worth forty dollars, touching up the pool deck fifty dollars.

You get the idea. It was pretty much what my sister thought was fair. Not that it bothered me, I was still mowing some lawns on the side, but the downside to mowing lawns was I would often need to pay for the gas, oil, and spare parts out of my own pocket. And most of the people in the neighborhood were on a fixed income. So while I normally charged around fifty dollars for a small lawn, after factoring in gas, oil usage and sometimes the fact that I needed to change out the blades I was really only making ten to fifteen dollars of pure profit per lawn.

Also given the hour to hour and half it took me to mow most lawns I was kind of coming up short. Still again most of my clients were living on a fixed income and could not afford anybody else, so I kept doing it, mostly because I felt I still owed the man upstairs for the sudden windfall.

Chores aside, what I'd been doing mostly for the past few days was going through my closet. The left hand side of my closet I'd devoted to mostly my “Heather” Clothes. With the dresses, blouses and stuff hanging up on hangers with the shoes on bottom with the right hand side being devoted to the few remaining boy clothes I had. My dresser would be the same with the top half of the dress being devoted to my boxers, socks and under shirts and such and the lower half bras, panties and such when I could acquire them.

True to my word I'd donated most of the boys clothes I did not need to charity and I'd dropped twenty extra dollars into the collection plate last Sunday instead of my normal five. I'd also lit a candle in front of the statue of Mary at our Church and spent fifteen minutes after mid-week mass thanking her. I'd even gone to mass more often. I mean I'm not sure what Mary's position on the whole thing was. But somebody had sent me a blessing.

Now the next thing I had to do was acquire some health items. I mean I knew soon I would need some make-up and stuff and lessons on how to properly apply make-up. And for that I knew I would need to visit the local Sephora store inside the Mall. In order to do that I would need to pass as a girl and I don't feel I was quite ready for that yet. Anyway, I knew I could dress like a girl but I needed to learn how to act like a girl and how to smell like one.

Again to get some proper teenage girl body spray I would need to either venture into the mall and shop at either the Belk's or the JCPenney. Those were the only two stores within my budget. Anyway I decided the best thing I could do was acquire some basic deodorant and some information and save the rest for when I could get to the Mall. I mean I could go to Wal-Mart but shopping at Wal-Mart seemed the uncoolest thing I could ever do.

Anyway I took a deep breath as I walked through the automatic sliding doors. McDade's was a small corner market that was located just a half mile from my front door. McDade's as far as I could tell was a chain of small corner markets. It was famous for its custom cuts of beef, for being the only place in Greenville that sold USDA Prime beef, for its fresh seafood and fresh, fried, southern style chicken. Its tag-line was “Big enough to service you, small enough to know you.”

Anyway as I walked into the store the first thing I noticed was the smell of fresh fried chicken, it was around noon and the normal lunch crowd was rushing in. My goal was simple: buy some teenage girl inspired deodorant, the latest copy of “Shojo Kaiden”  an anthology manga magazine that also sometimes published local ghost stories or supernatural accounts.

And since it was near lunch time I decided to pick up a “Lunch Box Special” from the hot bar. I felt my cheeks bloom with color as I made my way down the narrow isles, I kept my eyes cast downward trying to avoid the gazes of the other shoppers. I mean I doubt anybody would give two farts about what kind of deodorant I'll buy, but it felt wrong you know, buying something meant for a teenage girl. Finally I found what I was looking for: a small stick of strawberry scented deodorant.. I picked up a stick and then decided to go for another stick of Pear and Apple scented deodorant.

And then because I was this far in I decided to pick up a bottle of Coconut scented shampoo because well if I was going to be a girl I would need to learn how to take care of my hair like a girl. Finally a collection of colorful hair ties and a few ribbons. My heart was beating like a jack-hammer and felt myself becoming physically sick. My hands were trembling. Steeling myself I started to move toward the hot bar.

“What can I get y'all?” The woman behind the counter said.

“I'll have the Lunch Box Special.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Do you want white, dark or mixed?” She said in a dull, lifeless tone of voice.

“Mixed.” I said, taking a deep breath. “I'd like to add three chicken tenders, and two extra rolls please.”
“Mix will cost you a dollar fifty extra..” The woman leered at me. “Tenders are a dollar extra, rolls are fifty cents extra.”

“Fine.” I could feel my lips starting to quiver a little. It was like my courage was about to falter. I was one short breath away from dropping everything I was holding in the little hand basket I'd picked up the moment I'd entered the store. Yes, I was one mere seconds from dropping the hand basket on the ground and bolting out the door. Once I was through those doors I planned on sprinting down the street and not stopping until I reached the front door of my house. I would then bust through the front door, lock it with a chain and then rush toward my room, dive under the covers of my bed and pull them tightly over my head. This was more nerve wrecking than buying my first batch of clothes.

The woman to her credit just nodded her head and boxed up my order and handed it to me.

“NEXT!” She shouted and then motioned me to move on.

And that was that. I moved down the line, and at the counter I picked up a glossy cover of the newest edition of “Shojo Beat” like I wanted. The cover showed an anime teenage girl with long, strawberry blonde colored hair and blue eyes. She had a dazzling smile, the kind of smile that lit up a room. A movie star smiled and she was surrounded by flowers. Up next was the newest edition of “Shojo Kaiden” ; this cover showed what looked like an abandoned shrine. The flagstone path leading up to the shrine was lined with moss covered Toro lanterns.

Finally my turn came, the cashier scanned my items, and bagged them, I paid with cash and that was it. And so another small step to becoming Heather had been completed.

End of Chapter 7