New Beginnings

Chicago was a cold and windy city, especially during the autumn/winter seasons. The sun could hardly warm the morning, its pathetic rays trying their hardest to poke through the ominous dark clouds that hung heavy over the sky scrapers, threatening rain, sleet or even snow. Payton Thompson walked briskly down the streets, her dark brown hair tucked under a grey woolen beanie and her body wrapped in a darker grey coat. Not overly tall, barely reaching 5’5’’ in fact, she struggled to push through the ash colored snow that had fallen through the evening previous.

It was almost eight in the morning, and she was running a little late to open the book store her parents owned. They thrust the duty of store manager at her eagerly; unhappy with how commercial they had to run the store to make any money to live off of. Her parents, Hannah and Dean, were hippies that had moved down from Canada just before her older brother was born, shocking both their parents and opened a book store-café in the then cleaner city of Chicago.

Cold fingers encased in black woolen gloves dove into her pockets, and pulled out the store’s keys as she neared the corner of the block, her family’s store tucked lovingly on it. Hannah and Dean loved folk art and it showed in the shop with delicate flowers running around the window borders and the wooden support beams by the door.

Payton loved the store, the sense of peace and quiet she got before the local college’s exam periods slammed onto them like a tidal wave. The previous year had her purchasing study guides for the students and selling them for reasonable prices in a hope of coaxing more business to them. To say that it was a success was an understatement. Not only had the study guides become a sellout number, the café had also become the ‘it’ place to be for the students, thanks to Lucy.

Lucy, a beautiful middle-aged Japanese woman, was a godsend and like another mother to Payton, often sending her home with leftovers from the store and meals she had made at home. They shared the manager position between them, only having one other employee for when Payton was at college herself.

Walking up the two stairs to the door, she slipped the keys into their locks and opened the door, scattering the previous day’s mail. Uttering a small curse, she knelt down and picked it up before tossing it onto the counter. Her movements summoned the other occupants of the store, two cats, Sugar and Lace. Sugar was a short haired cat with the fur the color of spun sugar and her sister, Lace was black and white, also a short hair. They had arrived one day with Lucy, who swore black and blue that the cats were a sign of good luck and the best rat catchers in the city…the store never had a rat problem after that.

“Morning girls, did you have a good night?” Payton crooned as she took off her jacket and beanie. Lace jumped up onto the counter, chatting loudly as the two waited for their owner to go into the staff room and give them breakfast. “I’ll be there in a minute, babies, I just need to turn the lights on.” She laughed as Sugar butted her leg with her head as she purred. Flicking on the switches the store illuminated into a soft golden glow.

Books in all shapes and sizes, colors and gloss, decorated the shelves her father had made, leading up to the wide steps that wandered to the café on the second floor. Payton loved the smell of baked pastries and paper and ink, the store was her place to breathe.
Stamping her feet onto the mat, Payton pulled out the umbrella basket and walked towards the staff room on the first floor, her two four legged companions following eagerly with their tails in the air. “You two are so easily pleased,” she laughed, entering into the tiny room. Ignoring her, they ran up to their bowls, wanting their food immediately. Grabbing their food out of the small bar fridge, she picked up their bowls and started to spoon in the brown mass. “You two are a cheap date, you know that?” she said lightly as she put their food down.

Wandering back into the main part of the store, she made her way to the front counter and turned on her computer. While waiting for it to warm up, she started to thumb through her mail, organizing it into piles of bills and junk. The stack was large and hard to keep a hold on. Dropping the pile for the third time, she noticed a hand written letter. Curious, she picked it up and was confused at the address. It was sent to her and she knew that none of her mail was supposed to go to the store; her parents had forbidden that immediately. It was postmarked from Columbus and without a return address. Shrugging, she opened it and pulled out a piece of paper.

Pay Pay,

God, it's been a while, hasn't it, sis? I'm hoping that it is you that gets this, rather than mom or dad. I'm back in Chicago. I know when we last spoke that I was playing College Puck, and there were scouts around, but after we talked, I shattered my ankle in a game and I can't play professionally anymore. Thankfully, I was doing Sports Medicine and I was the trainer for the Columbus team. I was offered a contract with the Chicago Blackhawks and I've accepted. I'm coming back Pay, and I want to see you. I'm arriving Tuesday night and I'm going to be at the Blue Frog Wednesday morning at about eight thirty on the 3rd. Sis, be there, please, I really want to see you.

Bryce.

The sender had her gasping in shock. She hadn’t spoken to her brother after he left the house for college and subsequently been disowned by their parents. Bryce had gotten a sports scholarship, to the absolute horror of their parents. Hannah and Dean were very much against anything mainstream and were disgusted that their son was a jock. Payton, however, was absolutely thrilled for her brother, and loved watching his games. Heartbroken was an understatement to how she felt when her parents barred her from talking to him and they fell out of contact.

She looked at her calendar, and then blinked. She only had twenty minutes to meet him and Lucy wasn’t going to be in until an hour later. Grabbing the phone quickly, she dialed the Asian woman, hoping that she hadn’t gone to the morning market.

“Moshi, Moshi,” came the greeting after four rings.

“Lucy, thank god I caught you!” Payton sighed in relief. “I need you to come in as soon as possible today, please? Bryce has just come into town and wants me to meet him in about fifteen minutes.” Lucy knew the history between the family members and heartily disapproved of Hannah and Dean’s treatment of their son, and Payton was hoping that her sympathy would let her see her brother.

“No problem, child, you go and see your brother, I’ll come down now and open, ok?” Lucy said soothingly.

“Thank you! Seriously, Luce, thank you! Um, the cats are fed, leave the bills for me when I get back and call in Nate to cover the front counter please. I need to head out now, so um, yeah, I think that is everything.”

“Don’t worry, Lucy will handle everything, so get off the phone and go see your brother.” Lucy said with a smile in her voice.

“Ok, um, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

“No problem child, tell Bryce I said hello.”

Payton agreed and rung off, shrugging into her jacket quickly and turning the lights back off. She was going to see her brother for the first time in four years and the butterflies decided to run rampant in her stomach.