Two Sisters Grocery was the largest and finest food market in the town of Athens, New York, although that was due to the fact it was the only one, and while business was only good enough to keep the doors open it served a valuable service to the locals who didn't want to take the long trek into the city for the essentials.
For the 27 years the store had been run by Emily and Brenna Oliver, two young entrepreneurs who bought the former Village Deli, changed the name to Two Sisters Grocery, and made the failed business viable. The two sisters became local icons of sorts, and so when Brenna Oliver suddenly passed away, townspeople feared that the surviving sister would find running the place alone too much of a challenge and sell it, or even worse have to just close it.
As the locals were fond of saying, it was better to pay a nickel extra for a quart of milk than burn a gallon of gas driving to the city, so when Emily Oliver decided to try to make a go of it solo all were relieved. Emily knew she needed help to do it though, so she decided to try and find somebody to work there, a first.
The diminutive blonde, who had just passed the half century mark, called the new position that of Assistant Manager, hoping that a title would ease the pain of having to put up with a low salary, at least at first. Not all that many applied, but one that did and got Emily's attention was one of the best customers of Two Sisters Grocery, a chunky teenager Emily knew as Donna who stopped by the store at least once a day, pedaling her old rusty bike and buying a candy bar or something.
Emily enjoyed the girl's visits a great deal, because unlike most of the kids her age Donna Angelo was polite and well mannered. If the store was quiet she would chat with whichever of the sisters was working the register but always going back to the deli department to greet the other sister as well, although she seemed to favor Emily for some reason.
Donna had been coming to the store for what seemed like forever, and it was fun to watch the girl grow up before the owner's eyes. Emily once told Brenna that if they had a security camera pointed at the door that took a picture of Donna each day and you fanned through them, it would be like watching time lapse photography like they do of a flower growing, only this would be of Donna going from a fat little kid to a plump young girl and on to being a chunky teenager. Her maturity was revealed when she showed up at Brenna's funeral, arriving on her bike alone and crying when she spoke to Emily.
The Donna Angelo that showed up one day for her usual visit on her bicycle was more mature too, dressed nicer than usual, her big smile muted and a serious look on her face when she came up to Emily and said she wanted to apply for a job, handing over her report card and shrugging.
"I don't have a resume," she explained. "Haven't done anything yet but go to school."
"You just graduated high school Donna. What about college?" Emily asked, and although she was reluctant to offer the information at first, through the course of her impromptu interview Emily learned a whole lot.
"I can't go to college," Donna explained, although the grades on the report card Emily glanced at were better than average. "But I really need a job."
Emily knew that Donna lived with her mother on a dead end street about a mile away, and the store owner remembered going down that street with Brenna a while back and saying how shocking it was that people lived in these shanties. The house Donna called home at least didn't have appliances and cars without tires on the lawn, but it was none too prosperous.
That house that Donna shared with her mother now housed only the teenager, with the father long gone somewhere and Mom apparently dying about a month ago. There was no money for newspaper obits or even a funeral, so her mother was cremated and Donna said nothing to anybody at school, afraid that if people knew she was a kid living alone they would but her in a home or something and she wouldn't be able to finish school.
"The house is all paid for I guess, but I have to pay taxes on it," Donna concluded. "That and food and electric. It's not much but it is home but if I lose the house I don't know what I'll do."
Donna then proceeded to plead her case, explaining that she was dependable with an almost perfect attendance at school, and she also knew almost everything about the store, even rattling of the prices of various things breathlessly before finally ending her pitch.
"Well, you certainly have made a good case for yourself," Emily told Donna who stood there with puppy dog eyes that Emily tried not to look at because she had been fighting back tears throughout the girl's story. "You are 18 right Donna? You need to be in order to sell beer and cigarettes."
Emily watched the girl practically crumble in front of her, barely managing to get out that she was only 17, and wouldn't be 18 for nearly a month.
"I suppose," Emily said in measured tones, "that if a customer came in to buy beer I could come up to the register and ring them up. And cigarettes? You certainly look 18. Who would ask? It's only a few weeks."
Emily had come around the counter and after going to the front window, peeled off the sign indicating there was a job opening and handed it to the stunned girl, saying, "The job is yours."
What followed was Donna acting like a teenager at a pop star concert, jumping up and down and squealing, hugging Emily so hard she almost crushed the petite woman as she spun her around. Even a customer coming in didn't restrain the girl's enthusiasm, although he did smile and ask which of them had hit the lottery.
"I'll be the best employee you ever had," Donna babbled, not a challenge since she was the first. "You wait and see Miss Oliver. You won't regret this. One day you will look back at this day and say that this was the best decision you ever made. When do I start? Now?
"Tomorrow will be fine honey," Emily said as she explained the meager salary, which the girl seemed overwhelmed by, the hours which were many and the days off per week, which was 1, 1 more than Emily herself got.
"Great," Donna said through tears as she started to leave, "I'll be here at 8!"
Emily waited on her customer as Donna made her exit, pausing to straighten out canned goods and putting the stray newspapers in their proper places on the rack before going.
"Remember when we used to get all crazy like that when we were happy?" the customer asked, and while Emily agreed she wasn't sure about that because it didn't seem possible.
All Emily had to worry about now was hoping the girl would work out.
***
Six months later, as Emily stood behind the deli case and looked at Donna ringing out a customer, she thought back at her assistant manager's words after Emily had hired the girl, all of which had been proven true. The jubilant teen had told her that she wouldn't regret hiring her and she would look back on that as the best decision she had ever made, and now Emily couldn't imagine what she would have done without Donna.
Of sure, there were a few awkward times at first when she would have to run up to the register to ring out a customer's beer while she was taking care of someone else, but those days passed by quickly and now Donna seemed to know the operations of the store better than she herself did. Better still, she seemed to care just as much about the place too, her mood rising and failing depending on the amount of business they did on a particular day.
As for the girl minding having to work six days a week, it clearly didn't bother her because there was Donna, was working the register even though it was Monday, her day off. The girl had simply started showing up on Mondays, and despite Emily's best efforts she insisted on working.
"Nothing to do at home anyway," Donna had told her. "Besides, this is fun. I like being here with you."
That line had resonated with the older woman, because although Emily had thought in the beginning she loved watching Donna show up at the store because she had been so lonely of late, but it was more than that. Donna reminded her of the way Brenna was at the girl's age, cute and full of enthusiasm over life.
The employer/worker arrangement had never really taken place with them, because Donna didn't need supervising. She was always on time no matter what, biking in early no matter the weather, and picked up on what needed to be done remarkably fast. Soon Donna was not her employee but more a friend, and as the days went by Emily feared that she was starting to look at the girl as more than that.
Emily knew that nothing would ever come of that, and not only because Emily was more than twice Donna's age. Emily never showed any interest in any of the customers that breezed in during the day, be they male or female, so the older woman resigned herself to just fantasizing about what would never be. As long as the teen didn't have ESP and couldn't tell that her employer spent a lot of time mentally undressing her everything would be fine.
***
