Chapter 34
Closing Time
As everything turned deep orange from the rays of the setting sun, the coffee shop Owner locked the door and flipped the sign at the window from "Come on in! We're Open!" to "Sorry! We're Closed".
"Phew!" he went and then turned around to survey the empty shop. It was hard to believe that just a few minutes ago, the place had been packed with people.
Today had been one of the busiest days for the shop since he first took over. Even with Peggy, Alan and Uncle Theo all helping out, it was just endless work for the vampire. One of the reasons, he suspected, was because today was Peggy's last day working here.
The day started at opening when the town's Head Magus came for a quick breakfast before starting work. As usual, she came transformed into a creepy, antique doll that could move on its own. Sometimes, the coffee shop Owner wondered if might actually BE a living doll instead of just a human who could transform into one.
"Ugh! Things are going to be so much more busy at the office now that I don't have an intern anymore!" the doll grumbled as the vampire put down a plate of toast, bacon and eggs in front of her.
Apparently, like Peggy, the young skeleton folk that worked for the Head Magus was moving on to another job at another town. His term had already ended just the day before.
That same skeleton folk showed up soon after for a BLT sandwich and an ice cappuccino which Peggy took care of. Despite her grumbling, the Head Magus flashed the skeleton a smile when he came by to say hello and congratulated him again for his new job.
A little while later, Mrs. Arkans showed up to take a break while in the middle of a shopping trip. The elderly lamia lady with a single snake tail instead of legs slithered over to a seat by the window before requesting an energizing tea. She kept a pair of large shopping bags underneath the table.
"She's really come a long way," she said while watching Peggy taking care of the skeleton folk's order.
"That she has," said the coffee shop Owner as he placed the teacup down on the table.
"I'm going to miss her when she's gone. She's been like a granddaughter to me."
"This place certainly won't be the same without her," said the coffee shop Owner.
As the old lamia enjoyed her tea and the view outside, Roy walked in, followed by his boss, the Royal Inspector, who happened to be in town on business. They were joined by a group of knights, the very same ones who worked with the inspectors while visiting Uncle Theo's mansion.
"Why hello, Inspector," Uncle Theo said to the lady. "It's been a long time."
"Yes, it has," the Royal Inspector said, flashing a smile at the man with a house for a head. Her voice shook and her smile was clearly strained. "Not long enough."
"Uh . . . You're not still mad about all the work that got dumped on your shoulders because I turned myself into my own house, are you?" asked the former baron.
"Oh, not at all!" the Royal Inspector said, speaking rather loudly. "It only made me lose three nights worth of sleep and cancel date plans with my boyfriend! Oh wait! He's my EX-boyfriend now!"
Oh, she's definitely still mad, thought Uncle Theo. I should get someone else to take over.
That person ended up being Alan.
When he showed up with their orders of coffee and baked snacks, the Royal Inspector and the knights nearly fell out of their chairs in shock. They all worked at the Royal Castle, so of course they knew what the Crown Prince and future ruler of their kingdom looked like.
What was the future king doing here, serving drinks like a lowly servant? They asked themselves while struggling to bring cups to their lips with trembling hands. There was no way they could relax with actual royalty serving them.
Roy was the only one okay. After coming to the shop so often, he got used to it.
Alan, on the other hand, was clueless of his true identity's exposure and the plight that came with the truth. He would just glance at the Royal Inspector's table from time to time and flash smiles at whoever he happened to lock eyes with. That only served to bring their stress levels up though.
I swear, I will get you for this, Theo! The Royal Inspector silently seethed.
Their stress levels spiked up even more when suddenly, a middle-aged goblin man burst inside, shrieking, "Rock-n-Roll!"
Despite his panda colors face paint and orange-dyed hair moussed up into a mohawk, the Royal Inspector and the knights knew right away the goblin was actually their king. The imposing, tall Royal Guard Captain accompanying him was a dead give away.
"Hello, Sir Wilder," Alan said to the wild-looking goblin. "Table for two?"
He, himself, had yet to realize that "Sir Wilder" was actually his father and just thought the wild-looking goblin was a friend of the royal family's bodyguard. They had actually come to check in on Alan and see how much he'd grown while working in the coffee shop. So far, what they'd seen pleased the king in disguise greatly.
The Royal Inspector and her crew were unable to stand the presence of royalty for much longer and as soon as they were done eating they scrambled out of the shop as fast, and as casually, as they could. As they rushed through the exit, they accidentally brushed by a tall lizard man with a scraggly red beard wearing a stained white t-shirt and denim overalls.
Startled, the lizard man cried out, "Whoa!"
"Sorry!" one of the Royal Inspector's knights said while passing through.
Before the lizard man could get a word in, the Royal Inspector and crew had already disappeared down the road.
"You okay?" asked a short, stout dwarf man. His name was Copperland and he and the lizard man were old friends who happened to run into each other and decided to have lunch together.
"Yeah," replied the lizard man, scratching the side of his jungle-green scaly head. "I wonder what's got those guys in such a hurry."
Copperland shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who knows?"
Together, the dwarf and lizard man went into the coffee shop, where they were greeted enthusiastically by Uncle Theo. Uncle They and Uncle Theo had bonded over their shared passion for alchemy. But while Uncle Theo was just an amateur who practiced alchemy as a hobby, the dwarf and the lizard man were pros who used alchemy in their jobs. Copperland was an expert fireworks maker, while the lizard man mostly did appliance repairs.
While waiting for their order, the lizard man pulled out a newspaper with headlines that read: "World Famous Superhero from Zhao, the Crimson Storm, does it again!"
"Hmm," went the lizard man. "Looks like the Crimson Storm just stopped a flying ship from crashing into a village on a southern island."
"You know, I MET the Crimson Storm in the flesh and worked with him before," said Copperland. "It was the New Year's before last . . ."
The lizard man rolled his eyes and groaned.
"You already told me that story a hundred times already!"
While the dwarf regaled his friend, AGAIN, the story of his encounter with a legendary hero, the door swung open and in walked a lady in a long-sleeve white blouse and flowing long black skirt. She had a black, leather-bound notebook tucked beneath her arm.
"Hey, welcome!" said Peggy. "Table for one?"
The lady smiled at Peggy and said, "Hi! Yes, thank you, Peggy."
Flashing her own smile at the lady, Peggy told her, "Right this way!" And then she led the lady to another small table by the window. After sitting down, the lady asked for a warm coffee drink before flipping her notebook open to scribble in it.
Peggy left to fulfill the lady's order, but stopped midway through when she realized she never told the lady her name. And she was certain she had never met the lady before, so how in the world did she know Peggy's name?
"Peggy, let me handle that customer," Boss said when Peggy reached the counter.
"Are you sure, Boss?" Peggy asked.
The coffee shop Owner nodded and said, "In exchange, can you see to Basal?"
Peggy turned around and spotted a giant snake wearing a bow tie loitering at the back corner. She was surprised she never noticed the serpent librarian of the Grand Library come in given that he's, well, a giant snake. He was apparently in town for a book convention.
After filling a dainty white cup with some coffee, the coffee shop Owner strolled over to the lady scribbling in her notebook and said to her, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Lady Playwright."
The spy-for-hire glanced up from her notebook and flashed the vampire a small smile. She was not surprised to get found out.
"No, no," she said. "The pleasure's all mine. I'm quite a fan of yours, Sir Trickster."
"What's that you're writing in there, if you don't mind me asking?" asked the vampire.
Lady Playwright's smile spread impishly and asked, "Curious? It's a script for my latest, ah, play."
"Is anyone I know a part of the cast of this so-called play?" the vampire asked with a sharp glint in his eyes.
Unaffected, Lady Playwright replied, "You needn't worry about that. An old friend of yours actually asked for this, a certain lady werewolf with a talent for detective work."
The coffee shop Owner was unconvinced until Lady Playwright flicked her wrist and out popped a small business card that she brandished between her fingers.
The coffee shop Owner gave the card a quick, but careful lookover before handing it back to Lady Playwright.
"When you see her, tell her I said hello," he said.
Lady Playwright promised, "Will do."
George came home from school at the afternoon, followed by Alan. Not the goblin Alan working at the coffee shop, but a young human boy named Alan who's a student at Paladia School of Advanced Magic. Floating over his shoulder was the fairy girl Aria and a fellow student of Paladia School. They've been hanging out a lot since that vase mess over a year ago. Right behind them were more students from Paladia School who were also mixed up in that mess.
They had only come to the shop to hang out and have a snack. But Aria happened to look outside the window and cried out, "It's the Chief Director and Daisy!"
"Quick!" shouted the black-haired elf girl. "Get out your books so it looks like we're doing our homework!"
The Paladia kids quickly reached into their bags and spread out textbooks, notebooks and sheets of paper all over the table just as a man in a huge suit of black armor walked into the store accompanied by a young lady wearing big, round glasses.
In unison, Alan, Aria and their friends loudly greeted the armored man, "Hi, Director Stonecrest!"
"Why, hello students!" Stonecrest said. "I see you've got your homework out. Excellent! Excellent! It does my heart good to see students working hard together on their education."
"Indeed," said Daisy. Her eyes rolled to the big, sugar-packed ice drinks and snack plates that looked like they had been roughly pushed to the center of the table in a hurry.
"Hey, mind if I join you guys?" George asked when he approached the Paladia School students with his own books snug in his arms.
Alan and the others exchanged looks before replying, "Sure thing!"
They figured that now that they had their books out, they may as well get their homework done for real. There was no way they could slack off anyway with the Chief Director and a staff member of their school so close by having freshly baked cookies.
As soon as Peggy put the cookies down on the table, she heard the bell ring and looked up to see a girl in a blue outfit burst in.
"Oh, hey! Long time no see!" Peggy cried out. She remembered meeting the girl in blue who claimed to be a water shaman a long time ago back when the town was in a panic over the polluted canal water. It was thanks to that girl and her special power that the canal water was clean again.
"Long time no see!" the girl said back, beaming. She was accompanied by an older lady who wore the same kind of clothes. The little girl had always wanted to see Peggy again after Peggy had helped her find her glasses and finally got the other shamans to let her visit the shop.
It was at that moment that George's school teacher, Mr. Starling walked into the shop and nearly into the water shaman girl.
"Whoa!" he cried out. "Excuse me! Sorry about that."
"Oh no, it's okay! I'm sorry for getting in your way," said the water shaman girl.
"Oh, no, no no! No need to apologize!" Mr. Starling froze when he noticed there was something oddly familiar about the girl. "Wait! Aren't you the most powerful water shaman, the Undine!?"
He thought to himself, Again!? Why does this store always attract crazy powerful people!?
He glanced at George, thinking the young lion cub had something to do with it, AGAIN. But this time, it was actually Peggy's fault.
The front door flew open again and in walked a lady with a paper bag covering her head, shouting, "'Tis I! The Queen of the North Mountain Dragons! No, wait! Scratch that! 'Tis I! Definitely NOT the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons!"
She whispered to herself, "Yes! Nailed it!" But behind her, a man in a butler outfit just shook his head exasperatedly and sighed.
"And with me," the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons continued, "are NOT the High Songstress of the fairies and her two bodyguards!"
She gestured towards three people wearing silk white capes. The blond lady who stood in front of the group shook her head and sighed the same way the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons' butler did.
Friendly reminder, the High Songstress is the third-most powerful fairy on the continent.
"Hi!" shouted Alan the goblin, and secretly the future king of the country. "Take any seat you want! I'll be over to take your order!"
Mr. Starling fainted then and there.
The coffee shop Owner was behind the counter watching the whole thing when he heard a lady's voice speak up next to him.
"Quite a lot of commotion this afternoon, huh?"
He glanced over to the vampire lady leaning over the counter with her fingers wrapped around the rim of a teacup.
"Still doesn't compare to the commotion you usually cause, Mother," the coffee shop Owner said.
The vampire lady snickered. "True."
They paused to watch Stonecrest pick Mr. Starling up and laid him out on a couch seat that happened to be free. Both the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons and the Undine offered to help Mr. Starling with their healing powers, but almost everyone in the room knew that would only make things worse and tried to stop the two.
The coffee shop Owner broke silence and said, "You're going to leave soon, aren't you?"
"Yes," his mother replied. "Now that the problem of Peggy's Untethering has been resolved and she's safely anchored to this world, I don't need to look after her anymore."
"Which leaves you free to start wandering from world to world again," said the coffee shop Owner.
"That's right," said his mother. "You know, you can come with me. It'll be like when you were a child. I'm sure you're itching to go on an adventure again."
"Thanks, but no thanks," said the coffee shop Owner. "I do plan to go on adventures again one day. But just this world is enough for me."
"I see." There was a look of sadness across the vampire lady's face, but only for an instant. The sad look quickly disappeared and was replaced with a big smile. "Good bye, son."
"Good bye, Mother."
And then she was gone, just like that.
And then the coffee shop Owner said, "You're not going ask?"
"Ask what?" asked Max the fortune teller.
"You know I'm going to leave this place one day," said the coffee shop Owner. "Don't you want to know what I plan to do with the shop then?"
"I already have a good idea what you plan to do," said Max. "If George doesn't take over, you'll try to hand it back to the original owners and their family. But I don't think things will go the way you envisioned."
"Oh?" went the coffee shop Owner. "Then what will happen with the shop? Will someone else take over? And if so, who?"
Max looked over at Peggy who was handing a revived Mr. Starling some water. And the fortune teller muttered under his breath, "Who indeed?"
For some reason, he felt like he was seeing a vision of the future without actually seeing one.
As the shop approached closing time, the number of customers eventually dwindled, until only the workers and George were left.
After checking the time on his watch, the coffee shop Owner announced, "Okay! Time to lock up!"
"Oh! Then I suppose it's time for us to go home, then!" spoke a man.
"Come along, Cyrus!"
"Yes, Mother!"
The coffee shop Owner turned around, but there was no one behind him. Uncle Theo was in the kitchen. George had gone upstairs. Peggy was wiping a table at the back corner looking like she didn't hear a thing.
Stunned, the coffee shop Owner softly went, "What the . . . ?"
And then he yelped, startled by a sudden knocking on the door. He spun around to see through the window a lion man in a fancy suit waiting outside. It was George's uncle, Norman who was here for a family visit.
"I hope I'm not too late," Norman said when he was let inside.
"You're early, actually," said the coffee shop Owner. "We're still packing everything up for the day. You can go upstairs and make yourself comfortable. And keep an eye on George while you're at it."
"I'll do just that," said the lion man before heading to the back room.
After taking care of the Open/Closed sign at the front door, the vampire turned and walked away before stopping in the middle and cried out, "Shoot! I forgot to bring in the sign board!"
Peggy overheard and volunteered, "I can go get it!"
"Are you sure, Peggy? You're supposed to clock out already, aren't you?"
Peggy shrugged and said, "Meh. A little extra work won't hurt. Consider it a favor for all the things you did for me."
She unlocked the door, stepped outside and bent down to pick up the A-shaped sign board when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
She straightened up and looked ahead. Then, with a big smile spread across her face, she held her hand up and waved good-bye.
THE END
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