Sam and Lily

After finishing ringing up the last customer of the day Samantha, Sam, stepped back from the register and reached down and touched her toes. Her long torso and legs came in handy for books on the top shelves, but became a bit too stiff by the end of the day. She went to the door and locked it and turned the yellowing sign that named the store as 'Inked and Ready,' from 'open' to 'closed.' It's one of the the parts of the day she looked forward to the most. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy reading, she did and often. Sam's personality had a contention with how many people she had to talk to and smile at during the day. She was never intentionally rude or contrary, she just didn't enjoy talking about the latest mystery or romance with a dozen customers a day. Sam's idea of a great read always involved traveling and adventure and she liked to read when it was quiet and she didn't have any plans for the whole day.

Soon, she tells herself, soon I'll see the places I've read about. She looks around the small bookshop as she drops down the flowery, faded curtain in the window front. Maybe, she adds to herself, one corner of her mouth twisting inward and the other down. Just then her Aunt Claire came out from the back, most likely unpacking a new box of the best sellers for the month. Sam noticed that her aunt was using her cane now, when she hadn't been earlier, and moving a little slower, wearing her favorite pink, fuzzy slippers.

“Oh Sam, dear thank you so much I had just noticed the time. I had wanted to get out here sooner to check to see if Susan had been in, I found a copy of a book she might like and had laid it aside for her.” Her gait slow but steady and not too much limping Sam noticed, but that didn't necessarily mean the pain wasn't high. Her aunt refused to take anything for her discomfort during normal working hours when the shop was open. She was worried it would 'muddle' her thinking if a new customer came in wanting an idea of what to read or a frequent buyer coming into discuss the favorite part of the book they were reading.

“She did come in, but don't worry I found the book on the shelf under the register, you had labeled it with her name. She did choose to buy it, once again another satisfied reader thanks to your people and book skills Aunt Claire.” Sam smiled as she gently placed her hand under her aunt's elbow to help support her to the register.

Her aunt liked to take responsibility of tending to the numbers herself at the end of the day. It wasn't at all that she didn't trust Sam, it was simply that she had been doing so since her late husband Arnie had first opened the bookstore and her habit had stuck with her in that regard.

Sam hated to think that the shop had not had as many customers lately, she had been hoping with the heat wave that had hit the city this week that a few more customers than normal would seek shelter in the cooler bookstore and possibly peruse and find a new read. Instead it seemed there were less this past month than what was usual for summer, which made her sad on two accounts. One of course being less revenue for her aunt, but also the idea that less people, especially young people, were wanting to read these days, instead preferring to be on their phones and causing havoc with their friends. Sam shook her head and stifled a giggle, she sounded even older than her aunt with that kind of thinking.

Her Aunt Claire was not especially old to need the cane for support, instead it was the cancer that had spread through her body two years ago. Thankfully she had beat it and was in remission which was what her last scans revealed, but the cancer treatment had left her knees and hips weak and needing extra support on most days. Sam's uncle Arnie would never have allowed her aunt to continue to be on her feet so much. If he had not died in a drunk driver car accident ten years ago when Sam was 7, then he would sternly, but lovingly have made sure Claire stayed in a chair for most of the day among the shelves with her favorite mystery and romance books. Sam would try to convince her aunt to spend time in the oversize light green chair, but her aunt was too stubborn and refused to do so, and Sam wasn't nearly stern enough.

“Sam dear you go ahead and head home, I'll be there soon. You've done more than enough as always. I know you'll be starting up your senior year in a couple of weeks, and while you're at school my body needs to remember what it's meant to do. I am so excited for you to enjoy your senior year, I don't want you working weekends this year.” Aunt Claire smiled lovingly at Sam placing her hand on her shoulder. “I remember my senior year, your uncle was, of course, the class clown as the term goes, and he loved making sure that I laughed as much as possible. Your friend Lily makes you laugh too, and I'm always glad to hear you laughing.”

Lily being mentioned reminded Sam that they were planning on checking out the stars with her telescope tonight from Sam's porch. She quickly checked the time and went to grab her purse.

“Yes Aunt Claire, Lily does tend to say the craziest things and make me laugh, it seems I'm the only one of our friends that understands her sense of humor though.” Sam smiles again and begins to laugh out loud as she thinks of Lily's latest antics to try and learn how to skateboard had resulted in her bruising her tailbone a month ago. Lily was pertinacious though and was back on that skateboard after only a day of resting said bruising.

“Aunt, is it still ok if Lily comes over tonight to look at the stars with me through the telescope like we had planned?” The telescope had been her uncle's, he had spent many hours at night gazing up at the sky. He had taught Sam how to find certain constellations, both their favorite was the Dog. It was still the first one she looked for each time she saw the night sky, she was still trying to get Lily to able to spot it.

Her aunt looked up at her and grinned, the lines near the corners of her eyes getting closer together, she loved it when Sam and Lily used the telescope.

“Oh yes, absolutely, that's a great idea. What about some dinner at the house for her?” Aunt Claire was always making sure the young people in the store and Sam and Lily had plenty to eat.

“Don't worry Aunt she had dinner plans, she's coming after.” She placed her purse on her shoulder, across her chest, checking to make sure everything was in there. A quick glance at her phone showed a text from Lily that said she had really big news to share with her tonight. She wondered what it could be, hopefully not another crazy, dangerous idea like skateboarding.

“Alright then Sam, I'll finish tilling this out and balancing the books and I'll be home.” Her shoulders were starting to stoop a little more, most likely from standing for too long. If Sam even tried to mention that she could get her a chair to sit in her Aunt would most likely feel offended, so she left and headed to her car, making sure to lock up the store again on her way out.

The drive was a short one, one not even needed but it was too hot to try to walk from home to the store just yet, maybe in another month it would cool down a bit more. As it was her blue shirt was already sticking to her back as she exited her car once home. She wasn't sure that she wanted to take a shower, the heat and humidity would only return her to her sweaty state within minutes of standing on her porch looking at the night sky. Even after the sun lowered the humidity and temperature would not.

She turns, hearing the sound of tires in the driveway, Lily is pulling up. At first Sam wonders if she was standing there for longer than she had thought, but seeing the look of happiness on her friend's face she remembers she said she had good news to tell her.

“Sam! Sam I had to get here as soon as I knew you'd be home!”

“Ok Lily, I'm home, I'm listening, what is it?” Her friend's face is beaming, this news isn't something small and Sam thinks to herself, this is more than skateboarding.

“Sam, my parents told me what my graduation gift is going to be!”

“Graduation? That's still another year away, we haven't even entered our senior year yet..”

“Yes, yes, I know, now listen, cause this is for you too and you're just gonna die when I tell you,” she pauses for effect. “They bought me, a camping van!” Lily shrieks, jumping up and down and grabbing at Sam. Sam's eyes widen being too stunned to speak. “Say something, please! You know you're coming with me, I can't go on adventures with out my best friend!”

“Wait... what?” Sam realizes her first response should have been elation for her friend, but that last statement has caught her up short. “What do you mean I'm coming with you? I can't leave my aunt and the store, you know she can't do it all on her own. There's just no way Lily, I am so happy for you and I know you'll have a great time...” Sam's eyes begin to tear up, she can picture the trip Lily will go on. The places, cities, states, sites, are all that Sam has been dreaming about. She gives herself a moment to imagine how it would be if she did get to go.

Lily is still smiling despite what Sam has just said, she goes back to her car to get her purse, heads back over to Sam and puts her arm around her shoulder.

“Yes, yes I already knew that would be the first thing you would say. I know you love your Aunt Claire, I know you won't just leave her. We'll figure it out before our senior year is over. Now come on, I know you have been thinking about showing me that Dog constellation all day while talking to those customers you love talking to so much.” Lily laughs leaning over and smacking her knee as Sam rolls her eyes and swats at her.

“Stop it, you try poking at me about that all the time and it never works. I'm fine working at the bookstore to help my Aunt. She can't do it on her own and I am the closest she has to a daughter, or to any family at all. She brought me in Lily, you know she did, when she didn't have to, so I can't just abandon her now.”

“Oh my word, you can be so dramatic! I still love you, that's a given, but you are not in the middle of one of your book character's lives.” She rolls her eyes at Sam and smacks her palm to her face. “Your aunt has told you, you cannot just stay here for her and the store, that you need to live your life, you need to have goals and to accomplish them. I, as your very best friend in the whole wide world, have graciously taken it upon myself to recognize those goals that live within you, and make sure that they are fulfilled, because I know without me you would be covered in dust and have lost your plot before you reach the age of 25.”

“I can't sleep. I worry my aunt will let herself and the store fade away if I'm not there making sure she's doing ok. She's doing better, I know that, after she first was diagnosed with cancer she had this feeling about her that she was just resigned to her fate. If I hadn't started making her breakfast in the morning before school and taking her to her appointments, I mean even figuring out what she could eat was harder still for a while there...”

“Sam, I know, I'm not saying she is well enough for you to just ride off into the sunset and never think of her again. I never meant that. I am simply saying that you need to think about you too. What you want to do, what you have in your heart, not what has been beating for Aunt Claire for the past two years, but that actually has to do with what you want. I happen to know for a fact that you want to see so many different places in the states around us. I've seen the way you talk about when your characters get to to travel to places, you get this look in your eye. Now that my parents are gifting me this van, and permission to travel, and they're even giving me the money to do so, we can't pass this up. Now, let's stop talking about it for now because I can already see your nose scrunching up in worry and I want to spend time looking at the stars with you!”

*******

Sam adjusts the focus on the telescope a little more and stands back up.

“Okay, there, take a look, that's the Dog constellation.”

“Beautiful stars in the sky and the name they come up with is 'Dog I still can't get over that.” Lily shakes her head in disbelief and bends a bit to align herself to the eyepiece. “Ok I see stars, and they are spectacular, but trying to make them into a dog shape, isn't happening for me.”

“Try to find the head first, it's in the shape of a triangle.” Samantha gives her a second to search for it.

“Ummm, Sam... I don't know if you know this or not girl, but you can make a triangle out of any three stars in that night sky.”

Just then Aunt Claire steps out onto the porch, she's smiling as she looks at the girls, thankful that Samantha has such a good friend, she knows Samantha needed her.

“Hey girls, I know you're busy with the stars but I did just make up a batch of hot chocolate if you want some.” She quickly looks at Lily. “Yes I have marshmallows for you.”

Lily excitedly jumps up and down, clapping her hands.

“Count me in Aunt Claire I see too many triangles right now, sorry Sam, we'll have plenty of time after we graduate for you to teach me how to see dogs and lions and whatever else you want me to see.”

Sam gives Lily a look to silence her and glances at her aunt, her friend shrugs her shoulders and rolls her eyes.

“Oh and Sam before you left I had forgotten to tell you, do you remember that young man Simon?”

“Simon, sci-fi. Yes. Why?” She correlates all the customers with the genre they tend to buy. It helps her remember names easier.

“Well, Simon keeps asking me if he can help me out at the bookstore. I think he just wants to be around girls that like books, he is a teenager after all, but I told him he could start helping me out on the weekends and you can have more time to yourself and whatever it is that Lily has planned for your senior year. After that we'll see where it leads. I don't want you so worried about me all the time.” She pats Sam on the back and looks at Lily. Lily quietly gives her a thumbs up.

“Aunt Claire... I don't know about this. Are you sure? I don't mind helping you, you know that. I love you and the bookstore.”

“Yes I know you do dear, that was never the question, but as your aunt I cannot allow you to simply resign yourself to this life when it isn't what you want. I tell you what, let's discuss how you're feeling and what you want a year after you graduate. Simon is still a junior he can help me out, and you can go off and have fun with Lily and have an adventure you've always wanted, go travel, see lots of places. Then we'll revisit you being at the bookstore if that's what you really want. Sound like a plan?”

Lily jumps up and exclaims before Sam can respond. “Yes Claire I think that's a great idea! I have a plan already and this just solidified it! Thank you, and thank you to Simon sci-fi too! We are going on an adventure Sam!”

Sam turns and looks at the sky, thinking about the constellations, their origins forming from sailors who needed a chart to navigate by. She could do that, she could let her heart, her dreams, and her best friend, be her constellations. Moving forward into uncharted territory. She turns back to her aunt and Lily. She takes a deep breath in.

“Okay,” she breathes out all her anxiety. “I want to take a year and travel, if you're sure it's okay.”

“She's sure, but first, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and then senior year. This is going to be awesome!” Lily jumps enthusiastically again.

Awesome. Sam smiles to herself and her friend. I'm ready for awesome.