My name is Nicholas Ichabous Crane Evanston. I'll spare you the long drawn out story of how I got that ridiculous name. The short version is that my dad saddled me with that long name so I would never forget the acronym, and always be NICE to people.
Sometimes big stories have small beginnings, my story started at a CVS Pharmacy in a small town in North Carolina. I was in town to oversee a six month construction job and was having a pretty crappy day, so I dropped in for a sugar fix at the pharmacy near the work site.
As I plopped down my bag of caramels in front of the girl at the checkout, she smiled ever so slightly at me and said "these are my favorite."
"Well, we have that in common, CVS girl," I answered. She half blushed, she seemed fairly shy. I had no intentions, she was half my age at least, and was not particularly attractive anyway. Her hair was tucked in under a hat and she was wearing some horrific polyester uniform that rendered her virtually shapeless. She wore thick black rimmed glasses but kept her head down so I couldn't really see her eyes. In a word, she was dowdy. She did have an intriguing skin tone, a hint of a darker shade that suggested she may have had mixed race parents.
She took my money, worked the register and managed to get the change in my hand without ever really looking up, it was difficult to tell if she was shy or in a bad mood. I took my change and was almost out the door when I had a sudden notion. I popped the bag open, took out a caramel, and brought it back to the register checkout, and set the caramel down in front of her.
She looked up with a look that combined gratitude and surprise, showing me her eyes for the first time, and it was my turned to be surprised. In my entire life I had never seen a pair of eyes that came close to hers, to this day I find them hard to describe. They were mostly the color of honey, but there seemed to be flecks of green and brown and even blue. Even through the glasses they were bright and alive like no eyes I'd ever seen. They were weird and beautiful at the same time.
I nodded and smiled at her and started to turn away when she spoke. "Would you like to get a CVS customer card?" she said carefully, almost embarrassed.
I grinned and couldn't resist poking fun. "You mean I don't get the option unless I give you candy?" I said.
She blushed. "No, I forgot to ask, I'm supposed to ask everyone, if I give out enough cards I get a bonus," she answered. "But I'm not very good at asking."
As a rule, I avoided the customer reward cards offered at grocery stores and pharmacies, something about it feels like I'm being stalked by a big box retailer. But for some reason I agreed. I had been raised from an early age to never miss an opportunity to be nice to someone.
"Sure, what the hell," I said. "How much will I save on caramels with a CVS card?"
"The more you buy, the more rewards you build up," she said methodically, no doubt repeating the standard line from the company book. "I just need to get some information from you. What is your full name?"
I hesitated, as was my custom before giving my name, before answering slowly. "Nicholas. Ichobus. Crane. Evanston."
Her pen stopped writing and I saw her face go ashen. My guess was she figured I was making up a name to play a joke on her.
"No really," I said. "It really is Nicholas Ichobus Crane Evanston."
Her pen still remained silent, and she seemed almost in crestfallen shock. I imagined that if I were her and someone gave me a name like that I'd think they were playing a game on me too.
"I know it's hard to believe, it's a long story," I said. I pulled my license out of my wallet and showed it to her.
She looked at it carefully, seemed to read it two or three times, before I saw her take a long, slow deep breath and then begin writing the name with a trembling hand. At the time, I thought she was maybe too fragile to handle someone playing a joke on her, maybe suspicious of strangers with weird names.
I finished giving her all the information she needed and she got me signed up and gave me the card, which I stuck in my pocket and figured I'd throw away later. I thanked her and tried to make her smile as I took the card, but she just watched me with an odd look as I walked towards the door. I was nearly out the door when I turned back.
"Say, what do I get for using this card?" I asked.
"The more you buy, the more rewards you build up," she said again.
"Well, if I build up enough, I'll buy you dinner," I joked as I walked out the door. As I reached my car I realized just how bad that sounded. I had meant to say I would give her money for dinner, but it probably sounded like I was suggesting I would take her out to dinner. If I was a twenty-something clerk at a CVS and a forty-something guy had asked me to dinner, I'd be creeped out, and I'm sure she was.
For some reason the whole episode stuck in my mind, and for the next several days I kept randomly thinking about the CVS girl. I kept visualizing those amazingly unique eyes, and wondering if she still thought I was lying to her about my name.
Before I knew it I had burned through the whole bag of caramels and found myself parked outside the CVS. I walked in and was glad to see she was at the register, and I thought I saw her face brighten just a bit when she saw me. I picked up some caramels and a few other items and made my way to the register.
"Do you have a CVS card?" she asked me as she rang me up.
"Ah...yes," I replied, a little hurt that she didn't remember and a little surprised that I had actually kept the card.