Recalled to Life

The market was nothing like I remembered, being bigger and more active than I ever thought possible. But there I was, standing there in the center of the market with brown eyes wide and jaw dropped; blown away at the changes that had occurred. I wandered among the crowds for a while, peeking over heads and squeezing through gaps in an effort to find the pharmacy. The clock in the center of the market square chimed once its hands stuck noon; a personal reminder that I had been out for two hours already, and knowing our mother, she would start to worry if I didn’t return soon. I figured I had about thirty minutes before she called for a search party.

I could see it now, my mother and twenty other people, including my sickly brother, scouring the streets of Loitsche in search of a former international superstar who had just recently come out of a coma. I laughed to myself. What a scene that would make, not to mention headlines. Shaking my head as a smile covered my lips; I turned a corner and headed into the pharmacy.

The store was small and white with the whole front of the shop a giant window. Bells clattered against the glass door as I entered and only the clerk looked up to greet me with a smile before turning back to her log book. Only a few isle of shelves contained products, not to mention medicine alone. Pursing chapped lips, I wandered down the first isle, putting my gloved hands into my jacket pockets. There was almost nothing on the shelves. Occasionally I would stumble upon a bottle of aspirin or cough medicine, but as I would go to reach for it, someone would either take it before I could react or I would see the note that read “auf Eis” and retract my hand. Was thereany medication left?

Walking up to the store counter, I asked just that.

“Excuse me,” I prompted shyly, trying to get the clerks attention. Once she looked up I added, “Do you happen to have any medicine left that isn’t on hold?”

The store clerk’s dark worn eyes told me everything before she even spoke. “No, haven’t you heard? We’re on a shortage right now so what you see is all we have.”

This worried me. “So you have nothing in the back?”

“Nein. Nothing,” the clerk replied, shaking her head gloomily.

Scheiße.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I breathed, heaving a sigh. “I have a brother at home—Tom Kaulitz, you’ve heard of him, yea?—he’s sick and needs medicine or he might have every trash bag full of vomit by the time I get home.” I did my best to sound desperate. “If you could just give me one of the bottles on the rack I’ll—I’ll pay double for it.”

The clerk cocked an eyebrow. “Double? Mr.—”

“Kaulitz,” I interjected.

“Mr. Kaulitz, as you can see we’re in a bit of a distressed state when it comes to medicine and I’m afraid—”

Before she could finish I slapped a wad of cash onto the counter. “One-hundred and sixty-nine Euros; I’ll give you all of this if you simply let me buy a bottle of medicine.”

She watched me with shifty eyes for a moment before replying, “Let me go see what I can find for you, Mr. Kaulitz,” before disappearing behind the selves of the pharmacy. A few moments later she reappeared with a few bottles in hand, setting them on the counter. “Take whichever one you need, but only one.”

I examined the three bottles in front of me. Aspirin, cough medicine, and an anti-vomiting medication I had never seen before. After thoroughly thinking over this one hundred and sixty-nine Euro purchase, I decided upon the anti-vomiting bottle, makes sense right? So I exchanged my Euros for the medication and exited the pharmacy with the shopping bag hanging from my arm as I made my way for home.

Upon passing the clock in the square, I realized I was good on time and had no reason to rush and get hit by a car or something of equal discomfort. It was still cold outside, the sun hadn’t seemed to warm up the day much while I was inside the pharmacy and I suppose I didn’t mind anyway. People bustled around me, knocking and bumping into me while simply offering “Trauig” as a reply to the jostle. Things were a lot more hectic than I remembered, especially in the market square. Seeing as how I had a few minutes to spare, I found myself an empty wooden bench to settle down on, allowing myself to absorb the new sights and sounds I hadn’t seen earlier.

As if wanting to say hello, a snowflake twirled down from the sky, catching on the tip of my nose. I smiled, recalling the snow fight I had participated in with Gustav’s daycare children. Wiping my nose with my scarf, I sighed, looking up to the heavens with a cheerful grin. Okay, so maybe today wasn’t so bad.

•Find Gustav and Georg: Check!
•Have a good day: Check!
•Get Tom his medicine: Oh, right.

Rising from the bench I shook the newly fallen snow from my clothes before trudging back towards the house. Here I come, Tom, to the place I am needed.