Everyday Item

    Tampons. Motherfucking tampons. Gloria stomped down the road to the CVS, glowing neon-bright on the corner. After dealing with this shit for fifteen years, she should have a stockpile of feminine products, but, no, every month she found herself out.

    Gloria slammed a box of tampons on the counter.

    “Hey, Gloria. How are you today?” Todd asked. He had the slack-jawed expression of someone finishing the last hour of their overnight shift.

    “Wonderful, Todd. Freaking wonderful.” Gloria grabbed a pack of bubble gum and dropped it next to the box. Both items were garish shades of pink. Todd laughed and rang up her purchase, sharp beeps breaking through the static-threaded elevator music.

    Without saying anything, Todd slipped one more item into the crinkled, white, plastic bag. This item had no barcode to scan and Todd’s practiced hands hid the addition from the bulbous eye of the security camera.

    “Live long and prosper,” Todd said as Gloria snatched the bag from his hand. She never smiled until she turned away from him. He couldn’t know how much she enjoyed seeing him.

    Outside the wind bit through Gloria’s thin, black leggings and college sweatshirt. She ripped open the pack of bubblegum and popped the sugary cube into her mouth. Chewing, she closed her eyes, enjoying the artificial cotton candy flavor and goosebumps prickling up her legs.

    Sighing, she opened her eyes and started walking back to her apartment. The palm trees lining the road whipped in the wind like lonesome dancers.

    Halfway home, Todd’s rusty Ford Taurus chugged past, blaring the angry lyrics to a metal song. Gloria did not glance toward the car and she did not watch which street it turned onto. She did not notice the street’s name was Bougainvillea. Gloria blew a big bubble in her gum and let it deflate.

    When she reached her apartment building, a converted three story house, pretty once, but now in disrepair, turquoise blue siding blackened by mildew and road dust. A creaky, metal set of stairs clung to the side of the building, with a landing at her second story apartment and a switchback leading to the top floor. Every time she climbed the stairs, she imagined the metal anchors breaking and the whole thing toppling down. Smiling, she gripped the railing and ran up the stairs.

    Gloria shoved her key into the sticky lock, turned it, and threw open the door. The heavy wood door slammed into the wall, knocking down drywall dust from an old hole in the shape of the door handle.

    After tossing her bag on the kitchen counter, she opened the windows, letting the wind tear through the apartment. A wind chime tinkled in the living room as loose papers blew off her desk. Gloria smiled at the chaos.

    Her CVS bag fluffed up in the wind, floating for a moment, before dropping to the kitchen floor.

    A small, cardboard box, tied with twine, skidded out of the bag, surrounded by cubes of unwrapped bubblegum. Picking up the box with shaking fingers, Gloria sat down at the kitchen table. She hadn’t noticed Todd putting the box into her bag.

    Placing the box in the middle of the yellow tablecloth, she leaned over to scoop up the spilled contents of the bag. She peaked inside the bag, just tampons and bubblegum left, no more surprises.

    The twine bow on top of the box swayed back and forth in the breeze. Staring at that little, plain box, Gloria felt overwhelmed. She’d been going to the same CVS for 6 months, usually for easy things like chocolate bars and wine, but once a month she stormed in, angry that she forgot she’d get her period like every other month since she was twelve.

Todd had worked there the whole time. He’d worked there for four years, he mentioned one time. He was easy to talk to and never made her feel awkward about what she was buying. The older woman, Esther, who worked there, made sour faces when Gloria bought condoms and beer, like Gloria was the only woman in the world who liked to get drunk and get laid. Not always in that order, Gloria grinned.

The breeze blowing through the house no longer felt refreshing. It felt too cold, painful. Gloria closed the windows and returned to the kitchen. She stared at the little box as she poured herself a cup of day-old coffee from the pot and microwaved it. She stared at the little box, wondering what was inside. She stared at the little box, as she leaned against the counter, sipping the bitter, black coffee. Just open it!

Gloria wasn’t used to feeling hesitant about something, but this little box represented something, she could feel it. For six months, Todd had seen her on her worst days, best days and everything in between. He’d seen into her personal life through her purchases, and now he’d just taken the next step toward something. Gloria put her coffee down, and shook herself. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was a mistake. Blood rushed to her face. Somehow she felt embarrassed, alone, in her own apartment.

“Fuck it!” She plopped down in front of the box and grabbed it. Untying the rough twine, she planned on ripping into the box, but paused. For once, she wanted to be gentle.

Inside was a small, green, folded piece of paper. Gloria unfolded it and read the short, handwritten message, “G— Feel Better! —T.”

Gloria smoothed the creases out of the paper and smiled at it on her kitchen table. Then turned her attention back to the box. A small glass bottle lay on a bed of shredded brown paper.

Gloria tried to picture Todd placing the tiny bottle in the tiny box and it made her laugh. He was tall and lanky, but slouched, like he was trying to make himself smaller, to fit into society’s idea of normal. She pictured him leaned over this box, his long fingers placing the bottle, graceful. The image seemed right, and she nodded.

Blue-green liquid glittered inside the bottle and she picked it up. The smart thing to do would be to dump the mystery bottle of liquid in the trash and never go back to that particular CVS again. The smart thing to do would be to turn the little bottle over to the cops and let them analyze it. The smart thing to do was google Todd to see if he was a murderer.

A small tag dangled from the neck of the bottle. Gloria squinted to read the miniscule writing.

“Drink me!” She flipped the tag over, “At the witching hour!”

She snorted. She was tempted to go find Todd’s Ford Taurus on Bougainvillea Street and key Psycho into the flaky, green paint.

Instead she held the bottle in her hand like it was a robin’s egg that had dropped out of the nest.

The witching hour...the fuck does that mean? Gloria pulled out her phone and googled it. Oh, that’s what it means…

So at midnight, she’d find out if the mysterious liquid was poison, drugs, or koolaid. Closing her hand around the glass, it felt warm and smooth, an aqueous worry-stone.

Her phone chimed. Her alarm to get ready for work broke through her weird, morning funk. She smacked the touchscreen of her phone until the chiming stopped. Growling, she stormed into her bedroom to get ready.

Placing Todd’s Magic Potion on top of her dresser, she smiled, butterflies flipping in her stomach. Cramping kicked in then, causing the growl to come back.

Gloria worked through her shift at GameStop, trying to keep her grimace to a minimum. For the thousandth time, she wondered if the employee discount was worth explaining to clueless moms that an Xbox game would not work on PlayStation.

Watching the clock inch toward ten o’clock, made Gloria twitchy and irritable. After she snapped as some poor kid for knocking over a stack of FunkoPop figurines, her manager pulled her into the back room.

“Gloria, are you good? You can’t attack customers, even the annoying ones.” Dave laughed, but his eyes crinkled, angry. If she got written up for poor customer service, she would lose her job. Gloria closed her eyes and pictured the pearlescent swirl of Todd’s Magic Potion waiting at home. Feeling calmer, she responded.

”Yeah, just feel crappy. I got this. Sorry, Dave.”

“I could help you feel better.” Dave stepped closer to her. Gloria imagined stabbing him in the eye with the pin of her employee badge, and it did make her feel better. For the rest of her shift, Gloria gave 110% customer service to prevent Dave from having any reason for cornering her in the back again.

She made sure her Uber was waiting at the exact moment she clocked out. Getting into the car, she glared at the store, picturing it and Dave going up in flames. The employee discount wasn’t worth it.

At eleven, she busted into her apartment. Her downstairs neighbor shouted up at her as the door slammed into the wall. Flicking off the floor, she heaved the door closed, rattling the windows of the whole building.

Despite the cold creeping through the unsealed windows, Gloria felt hot. She ripped off her hoodie and tossed it on the floor, in the middle of the entryway. In just her tank top, leggings and combat boots, she went out onto her tiny back porch. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths. Smelling orange blossoms and night blooming jasmine, she calmed. Time to get ready to drink the koolaid. Gloria laughed and ripped off her tank top. Standing topless on the porch, the cold breeze sent electric shivers up her arms and torso.

She went in and started getting ready for bed. Warm shower, fuzzy pajamas, and she almost grabbed the Tylenol PM. Nah, let’s see what happens first. At 11:58, she crawled into bed with her phone and Potion. When 12:00 flashed on her phone, she popped the tiny cork off and drank down the liquid. Lavender, vanilla and a hint of basil slid across her tongue. If it was poison, at least it was pleasant. She closed her eyes, as her throat warmed. As she swallowed, warmth traced down her throat, into her stomach and then travelled through the rest of her body. The pain that had knotted her lower back and between her hips melted away. Gloria sighed and snuggled into bed. Thank God for Todd. This is fucking fantastic.

“Gloria.” A whisper, Todd’s voice. Gloria knew she should be terrified, knew she should flip out and jump out of bed. She kept her eyes closed.

“Todd, are you going to murder me?” Gloria asked. Todd laughed, raspy yet sweet.

”Open your eyes.”

Gloria fought to open her eyes. She was surrounded by blue-green light, her bedroom gone.

”What the fuck, Todd?” Gloria sat up and looked around. At first her eyes didn’t focus, then she found Todd, grinning at her. Everything from her room was gone, but she felt comfortable, like she was still wrapped in a fuzzy blanket.

”This is where I come to feel better.” Todd no longer looked slouched, but was sitting cross legged, relaxed and proud at the same time. He held his hands out to Gloria, inviting her to join him. She did. Sitting next to him, she took one hand and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Am I dead?” Gloria asked.

“I appreciate that you’d put me in your heaven.” Todd’s voice vibrated confidence that he never showed stuck behind the counter of CVS. “But no. Let’s call it Astral Projection.”

“Hey, maybe this is my hell.” Gloria sat up, defiant for a moment. Todd put his hands on either side of her face.

“You don’t believe that.” He whispered.

He waited for Gloria to lean in and kiss him. They spent the rest of the night entwined in blue-green comfort.