A couple entered the mattress store, visibly stunned by the run-down interior exposed before them. The air was clogged with dust, and the plaster ceiling above was matted with brown blotches, rotting away as the rainy season slowly chewed through the building’s crumbling foundation.
“What a dump!” Anne whispered, trembling in revulsion.
“Don’t be such a snob,” the man replied. “We didn’t come here for sight-seeing.”
“I really wish you’d stop calling me that.”
“Then stop being so judgmental about everything.”
A store employee emerged, enthusiastic to cash-in on a big sale.
“How may I help you?”
“It’s astonishing how conditioned salesmen are these days,” the man scowled at Anne, unaware of his own hypocrisy.
“Excuse me sir?” the salesman asked, caught off guard.
“Please inform your manager that a client of his is here to see him.”
“As you wish,” the salesman said, disheartened that he would not ‘cap-in’ on this sale.
It perplexed him that so many customers tended to blow him off lately, and ask for management. His paycheck was dependent on sales commission after all. Ever since that new manager arrived, things just haven’t been the same. Who were all these new customers anyway? They were certainly not the locals he been accustomed to all these years. Perhaps it was time to take his talent elsewhere (maybe a car dealership). This manager had stolen enough of his shine.
“Sir?” the salesman called into a gloomy room.
“Another client I presume,” the manager voiced invisibly from the shadows.
“Yes.”
“Who is it this time?”
“I didn’t catch their names. Let me go back and check.”
“Get with the program, Dan. You should know the drill by now.”
“My apologies, sir.”
“Worthless sheep," the manager murmured to himself, emerging from the darkness like a phantom.
The salesman was practically useless in his eyes. He would’ve fired him by now if he could. But he knew that it would be hard to portray his ‘mattress store’ as a legitimate business, without at least one salesman on board. In another state, it would probably be easier to get away with. But in a liberal territory like Seattle, Washington, he knew that the bureaucrats in office would salivate with fiendish envy, if they were ever given the slightest opportunity to crucify a businessman like him. The locals would sell him out the second they heard that their golden boy, Dan, was fired. Damn hippies.
“The client goes by Derek,” the salesman came back to say. “Ah, yes, of course. Tell him that I will meet with him momentarily.”
“The manager will meet with you shortly,” the salesman said to Derek.
“Thank you, Dan.”
“What’s all of this about?” Anne whispered to Derek. “Why did you give them a false name? We’re only here to buy a mattress.”
“Don’t worry,” ‘Derek’ said to her, reassuringly. “I just want the mattress to be perfectly specified for you comfort, my dear.”
“That doesn’t explain why you gave them a false name.”
“I prefer to use a suitor name whenever involving myself in a sale. No need to be alarmed.”
“Whatever you say,” she said with a sigh.
He hated being deceptive to her, but he had to get the bills paid somehow. He was indeed buying a mattress, so he was being truthful to her after all, but deep inside he knew that it was merely a half-truth.
‘Derek’ and Anne peered toward the back of the store, as a balding man appeared on the scene. The air seemed to grow colder by the second as he made his arrival. It was the first time ‘Derek’ got to see the manager face to face. He could feel goosebumps running down his spine.
“Your mattress is being loaded onto our trailer as we speak, and will be delivered to you shortly.”
“Excellent.” ‘Derek’ replied, handing him a roll of Benjamins.
“How can a mattress be that expensive?” Anne asked, as they made their way into the parking lot.
“No need to worry, Anne. I can afford it.”
“There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Anne, dear, I’m being completely honest with you.” ‘Derek’ said, gripping her cold hands with reassurance. “Please, trust me.”
A crow cawed above him, with undertones of suspicious judgement. They both sat in the car in silence, and ‘Derek’ slowly hovered away from the store.
Suddenly a group of squad cars rocketed past them, swarming the mattress store like a pack of wolves closing in on their prey.
“What they’re after, it’s inside the mattress you bought isn’t it?" Anne asked.
The car remained deathly silent.
