The Jewelry Box

Amani Cloutier worked in a small consignment store on the uninviting corner of a bland and rundown street corner in china town. Today her mind wasn’t really with her at work as she stood aimlessly behind the counter watching the passersby rather than finding something more productive to keep her busy. Her eyes flicked to the clock more often than usual and each time it seemed the clocks hands had moved even less than the last time she had looked. She had only 45 minutes left on her shift and she had already clocked out mentally. Not a soul had come into the small shop in over an hour and she had grown tired of robotically organizing the racks of clothes or the knick knacks and assorted oddities that made their way onto the shelves.
The familiar ding of the bell above the door made Amani realize that she had allowed her eyes to glaze over and her mind to drift. Straightening her shoulders she began her obligatory greeting before even laying eyes on the costumer. He on the other hand had already laid eyes on her. Upon walking in he would have expected someone middle aged and just as rough around the edges as the merchandise in the store. He came here and places like it for exactly those quirks. He had little patience for the shiny plastic super stores. He was pleasantly surprised by the change of pace this particular shop had brought him today.
“Hi, welcome to the jewelry box. Let me know if I can help you with anything.”
Amani’s voice had grown quiet and lost all its conviction by the end of the short pleasantry. Tripping over her tongue momentarily Amani tried to recover herself and behave just as she usually would. In her head she was screaming ‘that’s Norman Reedus!’ but outwardly she just smiled a small closed lip smile and began scribbling nonsense on a piece of scrap paper as if she were working. She had been too nervous to look back up from her paper so she hadn’t realized that he had walked directly up to the counter rather than shopping around.
“Is that an octopus?”
A rough smoker’s voice floated over the small counter. Amani felt her whole body reject itself ‘Oh my god why am I drawing an octopus?’ Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear she looked up slowly and chuckled softly.
“It’s a self portrait”
Norman’s eye brows raised and Amani saw a twinge in his eyes.
“Are you an octopus?”
He placed his elbows on the counter and leaned over with a questioning face to check how many legs she had. A more honest laugh came from her now as she shifted her weight under his gaze.
“Well maybe I’m just an awful artist.”
“Hey, if you say you’re an octopus then you’re an octopus, I just wasn’t expecting a cephalopod for a cashier is all.”
“Well that’s awful closed minded of you.”
Amani felt their banter rolling off of her in waves. She felt so much more comfortable talking to him than she ever thought possible. Despite this though her heart pounded in her chest launching adrenaline to her shaking hands as quickly as it could manage, it was almost dizzying.
“Maybe it is”
Norman agreed with a smile. He nodded his head at her to show he would be back and sauntered over to the cardboard boxes that held a random assortment of vinyl located underneath a table off to their left. She wasn’t sure why but she grew embarrassed as he flipped through them, she felt responsible for the terrible selection, a lot of what they had in those boxes was grandma music, Neil Diamond, Berry Manilow. Every time somebody’s grandparents kicked the can they would donate all their unwanted stuff and it never failed that they owned some bread stick music. She couldn’t help but watch him as he sat down and crossed his legs, thumbing through the albums slowly. He occasionally pulled one out to get a better look at its cover and soon a small stack was set aside for later review. It occurred to Amani that she hadn’t checked the time since he arrived and quickly she glanced back at the clock. She only had 15 minutes left in her shift. She had no idea how long he would be looking through those records since she hadn’t put them in any kind of logical order. She kicked herself for her own laziness. She was embarrassed when she realized how badly she wanted to be the one to cash him out, disgusted by her own pathetic draw to him Amani reminded herself that he met dozens of people like her every day; it was hardly likely that he would remember her by tomorrow. Amani was just pulling her purse from under the counter and sliding her cell phone into her pocket when Norman reappeared at the counter.
“Going somewhere?” He asked
“Ah yeah, my shifts just about over. I can cash you out though no one’s shown up to switch with me yet.”
She began typing in the prices off the little yellow stickers on each album and placing them in bags. Norman watched her closely biting his nails and leaning on the counter. She was petite and curvy with a bright smile. Her green eyes looked like dragon scales and her warm brown hair made her fair skin glow. He looked again to the drawing on the counter and picked it up gently.
“Can I have this?”
Amani stopped bagging his purchases and looked at him confused. When she realized he meant the drawing she blushed.
“Sure, I mean .. if you want it. I was just gonna throw it out.”
“Throw it out? This masterpiece?”
He pulled out his wallet now retrieving his money while sliding the drawing in. He watched out of the corner of his eye how her face softened when she saw him do this. She hadn’t said if she knew who he was or not but he had a feeling based on that reaction that she did. He wondered if she was a fan and what she thought of him. It was unusual for him to meet someone new and not talk about those things first. He laid his money flat on the table and slid it over to her with both hands as he leaned on the counter with his elbows again. He did this because he was eye level with her when he leaned on the counter. He kept both hands on his money and looked at her with his lips tucked in and his eye brows raised. Amani didn’t know what to do. His lean was so inviting and casual. She looked into his ice blue eyes and realized that she hadn’t told him the total.
“Ah, um it’s ah. 5 dollars and 50 cents”
Amani had lost the cool she held that whole time. She was flustered and suddenly wanted to be an ostrich. ‘If I just stick my head in the ground and cry at least I can say I’m TRYING to look like an idiot’
“mhhm”
He said gesturing with his eyes to the display above the register that had already told him that.
“Ah right.”
Amani looked down from his frustratingly famous face tucking her hair behind her ear again. Her hair was too thick to ever really stay there but that didn’t stop her from constantly trying. The issue is that her hair was too heavy to be held back by little soft ears; in fact it usually took two thick hair ties and a dozen bobby pins to put it in a ponytail. She tentatively put a hand on the end of the money sticking out from under his hands. He released the money and rubbed his beard with one hand.
“This place doesn’t believe in name tags huh?”
Norman asked her as she fiddled in the drawer for his change. She looked down at her t shirt as if she only now realized she wasn’t wearing a name tag or a uniform for that matter. She never had, there wasn’t a dress code at this job. At least until someone shows up in something indecent and ruins it for the rest of them.
“Must have left it with my uniform and college applications”
He just raised his eyebrows questioningly. Amani realized how loaded her statement had sounded and that he must want to know her name. She quickly stuck out her hand to recover from her harsh statement and said
“My name is Amani.” He smiled and shook her hand.
“I’m Norman”
“I know”
“You do? I wasn’t sure.”
Amani smiled. ‘Thank god. At least I don’t seem as awkward as I feel’ the inner hipster spoke for her this time.
“Yeah, I really liked Floating, but Hello Herman and Gossip are my favorites”
Norman was surprised to find out she was a fan and even more surprised to find out she was the kind of fan who had seen his first movie and his lesser known movies since then. The bell over the door jingled again and both Norman and Amani looked to see who had entered. A short stout middle aged woman named Florence waddled into the store murmuring incoherently about traffic and gas. Norman suddenly felt lucky that he had chosen to shop when he did. This cashier wouldn’t have made his morning so interesting. Amani saw that it was now 30 minutes after 3 and she was supposed to be at the animal shelter in less than a half hour.
“Shit.”
She thought out loud. Norman smiled
“I’m afraid we aren’t alone anymore.”
“That’s my relief Florence, I’m gonna be late.”
Amani thrust Norman’s bag at him and threw her purse over her shoulder.
“Late for what?”
He asked as she rounded the counter. He hadn’t moved yet.
“Ah, this other job.”
Amani didn’t know why she didn’t just tell him that she was headed to an animal shelter. It felt dirty to talk about it with him. She wasn’t trying to impress him and she had always felt volunteer work was something you do for yourself and keep to yourself. Norman felt a pang of sympathy. He had two jobs back before he started acting. He hadn’t forgotten how many people struggle to pay the bills. He was embarrassed by the money he made for pretending to be a badass every week.
“It was nice meeting you, I gotta get ta walking or they will wonder what happened to me.”
Amani’s stomach objected to her words. It pulled itself down trying to anchor her to the ground and keep her from walking away from this incredible person that she wouldn’t ever meet again.
“What do you think about motorcycles?”
Norman asked grabbing his bag and stepping in front of Amani by the door.
“My father has 3. One is going to be mine once I learn to drive it. Basically I love motorcycle… why?”
“Come with me.”
Amani couldn’t believe she was actually riding on the back of Norman Reedus’s motorcycle. He had practically thrown her on when she protested. He refused to let her walk , claiming he had made her late and that it was only fair since he had nothing else to do that night. Now as they zipped around stopped traffic and through alley ways she felt incredibly exhilarated. They were driving as if they were on a secret mission, disregarding roads and traffic with ease on a bike sleek enough to do so. Norman had insisted that she wear his helmet choosing to risk his own precious brain matter rather than hers. His long hair was being tussled every which way and she giggled as she imagined pulling it into a ponytail for him. Norman felt the rumble of her giggle against his back and decided to be even more bold as he drove, hopping the bike up onto a median and down a cross walk. As they approached their destination Amani began to panic. She still didn’t want him to know where she was going so she nudged him and yelled over the bikes motor for him to pull over. He did as she asked pulling up in front of a self service laundry mat.
“Here? I didn’t know there were employees for these places.”
Norman looked at the building beside them skeptically.
“No not here, but I’m sure there are employees though, someone has to clean up and collect the quarters and stuff right? Anyway I can walk the rest of the way; here is your noodle protector.”
Amani handed Norman his helmet hoping it hadn’t left her hair completely flat.
“I don’t understand, why do you want to walk the rest of the way?”
Normans face give away a small amount of hurt but for the most part he was just getting used to the fact that Amani never acted the way he expected her too. She continued to throw him curve balls. It was exciting. He had memorized the dance his fans did with him. He knew how they would respond to his flirting and his casual touch. He knew how they would giggle and blush when he complimented them on anything. He knew exactly where every conversation was going. None of that was true with Amani and he couldn’t get enough. Now as she was about to walk away he didn’t know how he could leave.
“Well you see I’m a secret spy and I have to scale the outside of a building to break into a thug’s apartment, I wouldn’t want him to go look out his window when he heard your motorcycle.”
Amani had no idea what she was talking about. ‘You seriously are the worst liar that has ever lived, I hope that foot tastes good in your mouth, idiot’ She giggled a nervous giggle.
“Thank you, by the way. That was a lot of fun.”
“More fun than I’ve had in weeks.”
Norman replied with a soft velvetiness to his husky voice. Amani thought she might just turn into a puddle right then and there. He held her gaze flipping his hair out of his eyes and leaning back on his motorcycle. He looked like he was modeling hair gel ‘for that perfectly tussled, windblown, look’.
“Well, I should probably get going.”
Amani half waved is she quickly turned and walked away. Every cell in her body was screaming for her to turn around but she couldn’t, one crazy adventure with a celebrity wouldn’t make up for abandoning the other volunteers. They needed her help and after the adventure ended and she faded in his memory she would still have to live with herself. So she turned the corner and headed into the animal shelter with a heavy heart but a clear mind.
As it turns out they had needed her help that night more than she had even realized, a dog fighting ring had been busted the day before and all of the abused and wounded dogs had been dropped off at their shelter that afternoon. Now the volunteers had the heart breaking job of trying to care for these dogs. The dogs were scared and they would lash out and bite if you tried to touch them. They were used to pain and they were shaking as they hunkered down in the back of their kennels. Nobody spoke much that night, all the cheerful storytelling and jokes were lost. Now all that anyone could think about was ‘how many?’ How many of these dogs would be put down when it was determined that they weren’t suited for adoption. How does killing these dogs right the wrong that had been done to them? Amani was nauseated just thinking about it and at 10 o’clock that night when she left the building she was just as broken as those dogs.
“Hey.”
A shadowed figure leaning beside the door called to her as she began heading back towards her apartment. Usually she would have walked faster or ignored them but tonight she was ready for a fight. She stopped dead in her tracks turned around with fire in her eyes and her hands balled at her sides. ‘Just try something, I dare you’ She said nothing but she lifted her chin and waited. Waited for whoever it was to step forward into the street light, to say something more. She didn’t care who they were or what they wanted. If they stepped into her personal space she would destroy them. She was over flowing with rage and she hated people, especially people who lurked around in the dark. Norman emerged from the shadow with his hands up in surrender.
“Whoa, hey, it’s just me.”
Amani was stunned speechless. She had no idea what to make of this situation, her mind was still plagued with anger and pain but her heart wanted to leap for joy. She was confused to say the least. After another long moment Amani had still said nothing, her fists were still balled and she hadn’t moved a muscle.
“Are you okay?”
Norman asked her trying to break though her silence.
“What are you doing here? Did you follow me? Did you sit outside this whole time?”
Amani saw the pile of cigarette butts behind where Norman stood; He must have sat against the wall and waited for her to come back out for hours. Not only did he manage to ruin her plan about keeping the animal shelter to herself but he managed to completely break her minds understanding of how meeting a celebrity worked. Why in god’s name would he sit outside for hours, why would he wait, why would he follow her, what did any of this mean? ‘He is obviously very bored; why else would he waste tie on you.’ Amani was positive her head would explode; she couldn’t take anymore of this tonight. She just wanted to take a hot bath, bake some cupcakes and be alone. Norman stood sheepishly by the door. He scuffed his foot and this time it was him who stayed silent.
“Why are you here?”
Amani asked him struggling to contain herself in this completely baffling situation she knew she should be creeped out but there was something so vulnerable about his face.
“I… don’t know.”
Norman answered pitifully looking up at her from under his hair.
“I don’t know what your game is, I don’t understand what you’re doing, but I’m tired and angry and I can’t deal with this right now.”
She spit her words at him a little too forcefully and turned to leave but Norman stopped her with a gentle grip on her shoulder. He immediately released her when she turned around, a new wave of fire in her eyes.
“Wait, what happened? Did I scare you?”
Normans face was riddled with guilt. As if he hadn’t realized until now how completely stalkerish his behavior was. Amani felt her anger caving in as she looked at Norman and his defeated and nervous posture. His eye brows were pulled tight and his eyes searched her face for understanding. The guilt he felt was so plainly obvious and Amani couldn’t leave him with that when it hadn’t been him who upset her in the first place ‘Don’t hurt him’.
“No, you didn’t scare me, it’s just been a long hard couple of hours and you were the last thing I expected to come out of that shadow.”
She let out a long breath fighting back the urge to cry.
“I asked you to drop me off away from where I worked because I didn’t want you to know it was an animal shelter. “
“Why not?”
Norman asked. That was the sort of thing they could have bonded over he had been very open about his animal based charity work during his career. He had met lots of fans who worked with animals like this and they always shared that with him right off the bat.
“It felt wrong; I didn’t want to use this job to schmooze you. This is something I do, it’s something I believe in but charity isn’t a publicity stunt, it isn’t a tax write off, it isn’t a way to make god like you. It’s something that needs to be done for others not you.”
Amani paused looking at his wide eyes half shadowed under the yellow street lights in the muggy night air. Before continuing she began piling her hair on top of her head and wrapping it up with hair ties relishing the feel of the night air on her sticky neck.
“Tonight when I got in I found out they had broken up a dog fighting ring, all of those damaged and broken dogs where there waiting for me. I tried all night to show them not to be afraid I tried to treat their injuries feed them, coax them to relax but they couldn’t, they had been in that environment for too long, they just don’t understand love anymore…”
Amani’s voice broke and she sucked in a ragged breath.
“…Its policy at shelters like this one to put down dogs that aren’t deemed safe enough to adopt, if a dog may hurt a family then they cannot be given a new home and none of these dogs are going to pass those tests, it’s not their fault. They don’t deserve this. How can we kill them for responding the only way they could, How can we kill them for surviving that hell. I was so angry when I walked out of there tonight. I had been working with one dog all night, his name is Crash and he seemed like he was starting to trust me but my boss Luke told me to go home. I can’t come back here until tomorrow night and by then he is going to be dead. I just know it. I won’t have a chance to save Crash because of my stupid other job. We can’t afford to keep and work with dogs in the long term like this we have so many other animals to help, ones that can find new homes and It’s all just…”
Amani couldn’t hold it back anymore and a harsh sob broke through her body. Norman stood there with his mouth slightly a gape and his eyes looking a little misty. His hands were resting on her shoulders again by now and he pulled her in for a hug. Amani tucked her face into his neck, he smelled like fancy cologne and cigarettes. His skin was soft against the tip of her nose and she could feel his quick heart beat in his chest. His arms where tightly wrapped around her and the sensation was all around earth shattering. Amani was again blown away by her strange day’s events. Despite the horrible sinking in her stomach and the image of Crash in her mind she felt a tingling in her chest as Norman began lightly stroking the baby hairs at the base of her neck. After a long few moments Amani’s sobs trailed off and Norman pulled away to look at her.
“Do you like ice cream?”
He asked her in a child like way. She just nodded a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

The next day when Amani had gotten to the shelter Crash wasn’t there and she felt her heart splitting in half. She approached Luke fighting her trembles and before she could ask a smile cut across his face and he began speaking.
“Amani you won’t believe what’s happened.”
Amani felt hope shoot through her, that reassuring smile still plastered across Luke’s features. Please, please, please Amani begged in her mind.
“We got an anonymous donation last night 600,000 dollars! Do you know what we can do with that much money? It’s insane! That’s not even the coolest thing that happened, A few hours before that Norman Reedus came in here and demanded to adopt Crash. I don’t know how he knew about the dog. I told him he couldn’t, Crash hadn’t passed the tests but Norman refused to budge. He sat outside of Crashes kennel for 3 hours while I tried to figure out what kind of paperwork I could do, what kind of loop hole I could find, we couldn’t afford to lose our license if that dog hurt anyone. When I came back to tell him that it just couldn’t happen Crash was lying by the kennel door and Norman was scratching his belly through the chain link. I nearly dropped my papers. So I did something really, really bad, I forged papers. I wrote in that we had to put down Crash after an incident at the shelter, Then I wrote that we had received another dog, same breed, different name and that dog was friendly and adopted the same day. Crash is going to be okay Amani.”
Luke was absolutely beaming at this point. He was obviously very proud of himself for coming up with this elaborate plan and Amani couldn’t contain herself any longer. She squealed and jumped on Luke squeezing him and smooching the top of his head.
“Luke you god damn hero!”
Amani exclaimed.
“Okay, okay calm down Cloutier! This is a pet rescue not a zoo!”
Luke shoved Amani off of him and messed her hair to show her he wasn’t really mad. The two of them stood there with huge smiles for a few more moments just absorbing all the good that had happened. Luke spoke then.
”You think it was Norman who donated too don’t you?”
He asked in a whisper, afraid that breaking the anonymity would risk losing the donation. Amani just nodded her heart in her throat. She couldn’t believe that this was real. That Norman had rescued Crash from certain death that he had tried to save the other dogs with the money they would need to work with them for longer. He hardly knew her. Last night they had gone for ice cream and talked about art and life for hours before he dropped her back home. She didn’t give him her number and he hadn’t asked. She expected this to be over. That he would vanish from her life all together and that she would simply have a special memory anytime she heard his name in the papers. This wasn’t what she had expected. She didn’t realize where he must have gone after dropping her home. She was over whelmed with gratitude. Crash would live.
*6 months later*
Amani flipped through a magazine she found on the subway, it was too cold to walk to work anymore so she had to subject herself to public transport to avoid frostbite. The Abandoned magazine seemed harmless enough, just a tabloid with not obvious vomit or anything to keep her from touching it. She idly looked through it hoping for time to pass quickly. She stopped flipping suddenly caught by the image before her. She saw a picture of Norman looking ridiculously happy as a big dog licked his face. The dog was one Amani immediately recognized, it was Crash. Norman talked in the article about how shelter animals where important to him and that he had been warned that this dog wouldn’t understand love anymore. Amani’s own words ringing in her memory as she read that. He told the story about the dog fighting ring and how he had to elaborately forge documentation to rescue this dog. Thankfully he did not name the shelter involved. Amani’s heart swelled, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the photo. She thought of Norman sometimes and once she had found flowers in front of her apartment door and wondered if maybe they had been from Norman. She didn’t entertain the idea for long though she hadn’t ever come up with an alternative answer. Amani felt a tear forming as she smiled at the picture. She quickly tore the photo from the magazine and folded it neatly to place in her wallet.
The hair on Amani’s neck stood up as she felt eyes on her. This was exactly why she hated the subway. She didn’t want confrontation to ruin her emotional high right now so she peeked quickly hoping that there wasn’t anyone looking and that she could hold on to this moment just a little longer. Across the way sat a man wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, his face pointed towards her but the glasses preventing her from knowing where he was looking. He looked familiar but there where people standing between her and him and Amani couldn’t get a good look at him. After the next stop a few more people had cleared out and the seat next to Amani’s had opened up. The man came closer to take the seat; Amani didn’t look up, pretending to read the magazine, fear washing over her. Then a memory hit her, Normans hug the night she told him about Crash, he had such a distinct smell and the man beside her, He smelled of fancy cologne and cigarettes. Amani shot her head over and saw his smirk.
“Norman?”
Amani’s voice sounded so small to her ears. He raised a finger to his lips the smirk still there. Amani looked around to be sure no one had heard her. Just as she expected everyone was minding their own business.
“How?”
That was all Amani managed to ask, She hadn’t seen him since he had rescued Crash she wanted to thank him but her mind was still too caught up on the idea that he had found her on a subway of all places, what where the chances.
“I saw you getting off the subway last night when you went home.”
Norman answered. Amani’s eyes widened.
“You’re such a stalker.”
Amani blurted out before she could think any better of it.
“Ouch.”
Norman replied his shoulders stiffening.
“NO, I didn’t mean that as an insult, it just, sort of came out, I just can’t believe you’re putting this kind of effort into finding me.”
“Not me.”
Norman replied taking off his sun glasses before continuing.
“Its Crash that wants to see you, he won’t stop barking about you, he’s obsessed really. I figured I’d humor him and ask you to visit.”
Norman flashed Amani a smile
“Gee I don’t know, I mean I don’t really like dogs.”
Amani cracked a smile right back at Norman as they fell into the banter that had started their relationship, whatever it was.
“I could really use a full time pet sitter.”
Norman blurted out.
“What?”
Amani asked incredulously.
“For when I’m off filming, I figured you could ditch the jewelry box and work at the shelter and with my pets instead, I’ll pay you, and you can stay at the apartment while I’m away, it’s a safer neighbor hood and the door man is really nice.”
Norman rambled a bit. Amani was speechless so she just nodded and tossed the magazine on to the subway seat on their other side leaning in to hug him again. No more questions Amani decided, Norman was a better friend than she had, had in years. She would just have to accept that. Besides now she could see Crash again.