Gossip Town

After a long drive, he stopped in front of a damaged, rusty sign that said “Gossip Town.” The navigation had stopped giving him meaningful information few days before, so he had to use an old map. He placed the map on the passenger seat and looked at the town in the middle of nowhere, which seemed as if it was built around a local circus from old scrapes. "What should I tell him?", he said. "Small town, or better: a mixture of different styles of architecture and grotesque gargoyles that lie around, combined with fairy-tale houses and crooked windows. A great place for a new store. The sunset is great." The sunset gave an orange glow to the landscape. He sighed and took his cell out of his pocket, dialed someone and shortly thereafter said: “Boss, I really have to put an end to this. This whole trip is pointless. I’ve been driving around for days. Folks in this area just don’t understand why they should buy better or imported socks, or what is a branch or a sales office. This is a complete waste of our time.” He waited for a reply, then said: “Trust me. We won’t find customers here.”He moved the phone away from his ear. When he was finally able to reply, he tried to remain positive and keep a smile on his face: “Is there another way we... Okay. I got it.”

  He’d laid back in the seat and had pressed his temples, before he straightened up and started practicing his best smile. “It’s okay, it’s just another example of beautiful local architecture, it’s great, I’ve closed a lot of great deals, and…I can’t do it.”, he smiled again, took handkerchiefs out of his pocket and carefully wiped his sweaty forehead.  “It’s all right. It’s nothing personal”, he took the bag with the samples, then fell back again. “I can’t do it.” He sighed, took a sip of water and stepped out of the car, after his boss had made another missed call.

He was trying to look cheerful and keep his best smile on while he was waving to weirdly dressed passers-by who ran away in return. “I can do it, I’ve managed to sell to more serious buyers. I am successful,” he repeated once more in front of an bar entrance, straightened up his jacket and walked into a local bar with his best smile on.  He walked into a dark room that looked like it was decorated during his grandma’s era. An old woman was sitting alone in the corner and was drinking whiskey, some old, weirdly dressed men were playing cards; they looked away when he waved and smiled. The bartender with a big mustache and an old hat was polishing glasses with a cloth.

He was still smiling, and kept on smiling when he set and said to the bartender: “One cold Ginger Ale.” The bartender passed him the beer and continued with his work.

“Gossip town.”, said the salesman after few sips. “That’s a  great name. How did it get that name?” The bartender  replied after a while. “I don’t know what the grandma across the street told you about this place. Trust me. It’s not true. She makes things up from times to times. She doesn’t like me,” he placed the glass beside another one and evened them.

“Which grandma?”

“The old one, across the street. She’s always wearing an ugly old dress. She has her little stories, but that’s okay. She’s been like that since that terrible incident. I don’t want to retell it. It was terrible. I can’t be mad at her.” The salesman  thought about  the answer, then finally asked with his best smile:  “Who is in charge around here? I am a representative of a big company. We would like to open a store in your town.”

The bartender didn’t reply immediately. He was busy preparing the glasses for cleaning.

“I didn’t hear the name of your company.”  “Super Socks.”, he sipped the beer and smiled. The bartender was quiet, so he continued: “I’ve never seen such interesting architecture and colorful decoration.” He smiled and sipped the beer once more. The bartender kept quiet. “The architecture is really nice and colorful.”

      The little girl ran to the bar and gave a piece of paper to the bartender. “Mhm”, he smiled. “Yes.”                “He is the one! He told her that I’m a liar!”, said the voice behind his back. “There’s no other option left.” He turned around and saw an old lady who looked at him from head to toe. 

“I don’t understand. But that’s okay,” he drank some more. “I work for “Super Socks” company, and the socks are great, the name says it all, and since we are expanding our business and are opening new stores, I would like to talk to the owner of the empty store across the street, if that's ok with you.”              “No.”, said the bartender. "And please don't lie to me and to these great folks. We know everything."           “What do you mean by that?”,

    He nodded and smiled. “We figured it all out. There were some issues that we couldn’t understand, but it all makes sense now. And you don’t have to cry, we know how sensitive you are.”              “I am not crying. What issues?”             “We carefully observed your car and your appearance, we listened to your phone calls, We knew your wife left you for another guy, but we weren’t sure if you or her had an affair while you were married. And when we heard those phone calls, we knew that it was you. You had an affair.”

The rest of the people in the bar, which was full by now,  approved. “It’s obvious: we’ve noticed how ill-fortuned you  were and we sympathized with you. After all, she ran away with a significantly younger and more handsome man than you’ll ever be. That would hurt even the toughest, which you are not. And, yes, we get it. That’s why you’re an alcoholic.”              “What the ... ?”, he  stood up and looked around. These people were standing, full of understanding for his issues, and firmly believing in the bartender’s words.              “And no one can blame you. You became an alcoholic and a gambler a long time ago when life hit you hard. We are compassionate people. I can even understand your request for dish washing or kitchen works, since you don’t have any money. I get it.”           “Are you insane?”, he looked around the room, but he didn’t get any reply, just smiles and looks.   “But I do think”, the bartender continued, “that selling cheap socks as super expensive or luxurious is completely morally wrong.” He stopped his question with a raised hand. “We are well informed. Don’t lie to us! In a near-by town the name of which you probably don’t remember, you sold a pair of socks for a hundred! You should be ashamed of yourself, but you’re not that type of a guy. Tell me, how many times have you pulled this fraud?”“I will not stand here and listen to this.”, he forced himself to smile once more, even though he wasn’t sure why he is still smiling and left some money on the bar. “It’s for the beer.” The bartender pushed the money back.          “There’s no need. We know that you lost all your money in the casino last night, and we know precisely at what time it happened. We even know how you, under the influence, begged the casino owner to not take your caruntil you find more money. Better buy a decent meal with this.”            He laughed, turned around and walked out. His phone rang. He had to move the phone further from his ear once more. “I am sorry, I can’t talk to you right now. I have an important meeting.” He sighed and stopped smiling before he replied. “I won’t be able to deliver results. That’s the way it is.” He ended the phone call. “Sometimes I wonder if he would  produce any results.” He was startled when he noticed a girl who was following him. She smiled and blushed, he smiled back. Her friend approached her and the two of them started giggling. “That’s why his boss will fire him. He’s so stupid.” He felt he blushed. He knew that he did.

“His boss surely knows about his addictions. His wife is smart. She ran away with an older, wealthy gentleman.”

“Smart girl. She’ll soon inherit everything and she’ll be able to enjoy her life fully. Anyway, I have something important to tell you.”, they were walking away and her voice was fading with every step.“Do you know that..?”

He went back to his car, ignored the bosses phone call and rested for a while. Then the message came. “If you don't bring me results...” he left his phone aside. He looked at the town; folks were gathering in their weird clothes, with their weird expressions. They were whispering, looking at him and at each other. The curtains were moving, faces were showing up in the corners of the windows. 

He drove down the road. After a few minutes’ drive, he stopped and turned around. "I will finish my job.", he said and unbuttoned his shirt. He messed up his hair a bit and took a cigarette out of his pocket, his cigarette for special occasions that he foolishly kept for the day when he would get a promotion and a well-deserved raise. 

"Let's start from the beggining", he walked slowly toward the bar and came to a girl that was obviously the biggest gossiper in town. "Some folks say that you don't like dressing up. They think that you're a bit weird. And I think it's unfair, you are a pretty girl no matter what they talk behind your back. Would you like a pair of new socks?", he carefully observed her socks. "It's on me."  "I can afford new socks", she grabbed the socks from his hands and gave him the money out of her pocket. She walked away with an angry face. He walked on towards the bar; in front of the entrance, two girls stopped him and asked for a few pairs. "You will be the only girls who have these. Buy the way, these are the finest that you can buy, but don't tell anyone." 

They giggled and walked away. He  assumed that the very idea of not telling anyone was very amusing to them.

 He walked into the bar and  took a seat. The man with the moustache was while he was checking the glasses for the needed shine, then put them back on the table.

"If you are in charge", said the salesman, "and I doubt that, you can make the decission before I leave. People talk about our products, and our brand is among the most loved ones. It will put your town on the map and you will have something new to talk about." He drank the beer and said: "Thanks for the beer." After a few months "The Super Socks" opened a new store downtown. The town folk had something new to talk about for a while. The bar owner wasn't satisfied with the new rumours, so he opened a small gossip store. And the salesman lived happily between his boss’s phone calls and frequent trips to Gossip Town.