Eternal Destiny
Part 5
June 4th, 1924
Jack gently wiped the small pool of sweat from his brow as he continued to stack the boxes of pens and paper on the shelf in his small storage room at the back of his store. He sighed heavily as he lifted the last box and slid it to the back wall. Jack jumped down from the small stool and went back out to the front of the store, wiping his hands on a clean cloth.
"That's all of it Jack." Jack's friend George Newell happily announced as he wheeled the last two boxes of art supplies into the back room of the store. George had been delivering art supplies to Jack ever since he had first opened his art store six years ago.
Jack positioned himself behind the counter, flipping through another art catalogue. "Thanks George." George gave a hearty laugh as he watched Jack.
"You mean to tell me that I just unloaded five boxes of paper, three boxes of drawing pencils, six boxes of oil paints and eight boxes of who knows what and you're already looking for more art supplies?"
Jack smiled. "Just tryin' to keep you busy George, that's all. Besides, you can never have to much art supplies."
George chuckled as he casually made his way back outside to his truck. "You are hopeless Jack! Take care of yourself!"
"I will." Jack smiled as he continued to leaf through the catalogue. I sure could use some of those… Jack's thoughts were interrupted by the little bell on the door jingling. In came a group of three girls- two about the age of 10 or 11 and another much younger, probably around 5 years old. "Hi, may I help you?"
One of the older girls, looked up at him and smiled. "No, thanks. We're just looking."
"Alright. But if you need any help, just come on over here and ask me and I'll be glad to help ya out." Jack watched the girl nod and continue to look around the store. She looked around the store in absolute awe, running her fingers over the clean white canvases and picking up several different colored pencils. Jack smiled to himself, glad that these younger generations were still interested in art. He could vaguely here their conversation as they browsed the store.
"Are you almost done? I promised my mom that I'd be home before five and-"
"Oh come on Mary! I'm only going to be a few minutes. Let me just look for a little bit."
"But if it's 4:30 now, by the time we get home-"
"Alright, you can go home if you want but I'm staying here."
"Suit yourself. I'll see you tomorrow at school then." Jack watched as one of the girls opened the door and quickly rushed out. He remembered doing the same kind of thing when he was a kid, although he was the one left who decided to stay and ended up having to run all the way back home so his mother wouldn't worry.
"Excuse me," Jack was once again pulled from his thoughts as he noticed the other girl standing before him by the counter. "where do you sell you're drawing paper?"
"Right here." Jack turned around to open a cabinet full of a variety of different papers of texture, shape, and color. "What kind of paper were you looking for?"
"Drawing."
"That's this one right here. They're sold in tablets of 100 sheets for 20 cents."
The girl looked down in her hand to see how much money she had. 52 cents…perfect. "Alright, I'll get one of those and then these pencils please." She set a box of charcoal pencils and a sharpener on the counter.
"Sure thing." Jack began ringing up the merchandise. "That'll be 60 cents even." She looked down at her money again.
"Oh, well I only have 52 cents. I guess I'll have to put back these charcoal pencils."
Jack looked down at the girl. He scratched his chin in thought before replying. He had a sudden idea. "Well, ya know what? You are just in luck then!"
The girl looked up at him shocked. "I am?"
"That's right. Today happens to be a special day because today, we're having a sale on charcoal pencils!"
"You are? How much are they then?"
"Well, let's try ringing this up again." Jack went back through her merchandise and rang it up. He smiled as he thought to himself, Dawson, you have got to stop being so soft with these kids or you're going to go out of business… "Let's see now…it comes to 50 cents."
The girl suddenly became excited. "That's perfect! Here you are." She carefully handed the money over to him.
"I'll just wrap that up for you then." Jack quickly wrapped it and set it in a bag for her. "Here you go. Enjoy!"
"Thank you! I will!" Jack smiled and watched as the two girls rushed out of the store. Once outside, the little one stopped.
"Come on Laura! Mom's going to be angry if we're late again."
"But Sarah, my shoelace." Laura pointed to her untied shoelace.
Sarah sighed and bent down to tie her little sister's shoe. "Alright. Hold these though. I think it's about time you learned to tie your own shoes." She handed Laura the bag in one hand and gave her a notebook to hold with the other.
Jack continued to watch the girls intently, his eyes squinting in thought. He came around the other side of the counter to take a closer look. He studied them from head to toe. The older girl had knelt on the ground to finish tying her sister's shoe, her loose curls of blonde gently falling over her shoulders. Jack shook his head in disbelief as he looked over at the younger girl, with the same curly hair as her sister but more of an auburn color and with green eyes. Just like…
"Thank you Sarah."
"You're welcome. Now come on Laura, let's go!"
Jack stood dumbfounded as the pair quickly rushed down the sidewalk. He quickly pulled himself together. Come on Dawson, think! Jack jumped out the door and was just in time to watch them turn the corner. Quickly pulling out the keys to the store out of his pocket and locking the door, Jack frantically hopped into his new auto, following the path that the girls had taken.
He spotted them, heading towards the beach are of Santa Monica. He quickly caught up to them, stopping a good distance in front of them. Jack hopped out of the car and stepped up onto the curb. He noticed the two girls spot him, both a little confused as they slowed their pace.
Jack quickly tried to think up a good excuse to why he had followed them. "You should have told me you were in such a hurry. I would have given you a ride home." The girls looked at him a little surprised.
"Well, we…didn't…think…"
Jack smiled and gestured for them to come to him. "Ah, that's ok. Don't worry about it. Come on, I'll take you home."
The girls smiled gratefully and hopped in the car. "Thanks mister. Just make a right on the next street." Sarah studied the man who had so kindly given them a ride. She looked at his blonde hair falling gently falling in front of his blue eyes. His face was tanned by the California sun and he appeared to be biting his lip, looking rather uneasy about something. But there was something about him that Sarah just couldn't place. It was almost as if she had met him before. "You're going to call me crazy, but you look kind of familiar to me. I don't think we've ever met before…have we?"
Jack looked down at the girl surprised that she might even remember him. "I don't know. Did we?"
"I'll have to ask my mom…she would know." The girl stopped to take in her surroundings. "Turn left here. We're number 34 on the right."
Jack looked around at the small, compacted apartments lined up next to one another. On each side of the apartments was another apartment mirroring the other. There were no backyards where children could run and play and the front yards were made up of merely a concrete walkway with a foot of grass on each side. It was definitely not the best place to raise children in Jack's mind, but it was decent and well kept and most likely affordable.
"That's it…right there." Laura excitedly pointed the small place out. As soon as Jack stopped the car, both girls hurried out and up to the door. "Come on, I want you to meet my mommy." Laura motioned for Jack to follow them inside.
Jack nervously stepped out of the car and up the walkway to door number 34. Sarah had already rushed inside, leaving Laura at the door with Jack. Laura grabbed Jack's hand sweetly as she pulled him inside and shut the door. Once inside, Jack looked around the compact but tidy house.
"I'll be right back." Jack watched as Sarah disappeared down the little hallway leading to two bedrooms. Jack could just barely hear Sarah trying to explain where she had been.
"You bought art supplies? How? Sarah, we don't have that kind of money to be buying stuff like that. How'd you get that kind of money anyway." Immediately, Jack could tell that he had definitely come to the right place. That voice couldn't belong to any other person besides Rose…his Rose.
"I saved my lunch money."
"You mean to tell me that you haven't been eating lunch for the past week so you could buy art supplies?" Instead of angry, her voice was calm and worried as she spoke to Sarah. "Look Sarah, I know that things haven't exactly been the best they've ever been, but we have to make the best of it. I don't want you skipping anymore lunches, ok?"
"Ok Mom. Besides, I have someone for you to meet. Actually, he's the owner of the art store that I bought my supplies at."
Jack could just picture Rose's face full of confusion. "Well why did you bring him here?" He could hear them walking back down the hallway as Sarah spoke.
"Well first of all, he gave us a ride back home. Second, I wanted you to meet him. He looks kinda familiar to me. I wanted to see if you knew him or not." At this last sentence, Rose and Sarah appeared. Rose slowly looked up and what she saw seemed like a ghost and an angel both at the same time.
Jack himself was stunned. Although he had been telling himself the chances of these girls being related to Rose, he still felt unprepared. He looked at Rose, trying to take her in. She wore a waitress uniform, neatly pressed but smeared here and there with stains. Her hair was pinned up loosely, a few stray strands falling over her shoulders. Yes, it was definitely Rose, but something had changed…drastically.
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