MEOW: Magical Emporium of Wares - A Cozy Slice-of-Life Fantasy

It wasn't a dream.

Sunlight barely peeked into my room but my internal alarm clock had gone off. It was time to get up, no matter what the clock said. Skylights were above me, and one wall was full of pretty windows. Unpacking last night hadn't taken long, but soaking in the tub ended up being a two-hour affair as I found name-brand bath bombs in the bathroom cupboard. It was a good way to unwind after the call with my parents. I was smitten. This place was the best. I just needed to deal with the cat.

Opening the door to the balcony that overlooked the store was a glorious experience. Except things were different. Like, the shop itself was different.

The bookshelves down below had multiplied and off to one side was a children's section with bean bags and books on lower shelves. A few more skylights were added to the roof as well, but I wasn't going to complain about it. Sunlight was my jam. Especially when it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. I made my way downstairs to the espresso machine. First stop, caffeine. Then breakfast.

"Good morning, Betty. How are you doing?" Yes, I had decided on naming the espresso machine. She needed a name and I thought Betty fit the job well. "Let's get going and make an americano. Something to wake me up."

Not that I needed to wake up. I was awake and wondering what the day was going to bring. It was my first real day on the job, and I couldn't wait.

"Who are you talking to?" asked the cat.

Shit. I jumped. Didn't matter that I expected it. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the cat on the floor staring at me.

"I’m talking to this lovely machine. She is glorious and needed a name."

He didn't blink. I shrugged and went back to the shot I was pulling.

"Don't name things. It can be dangerous."

Now I was rolling my eyes at a cat. Who was talking to me, in a magical bookstore. He did not get to comment on my naming of the coffee machine. "Did you want a coffee?"

"Not yet, it's early for caffeine. Breakfast first."

He could have his opinions on caffeine but for me, it always came before breakfast. I sipped the espresso in the teacup and headed to the kitchen, careful to not step on him. "So, what does taking care of you include? Like, you can talk. Am I really needed?"

"You have thumbs... and I can't just talk to everyone. Only certain people. Speaking of thumbs, how about some breakfast?"

Breakfast did sound good. I opened the fridge and found everything I could possibly need for a hearty meal. Bacon, eggs and cheese plus a variety of veggies. I turned the oven on to preheat and before I could grab a pan it dinged.

"Uh, the oven is a little fast." It was strange since preheating usually took forever.

"Did you really want to wait for it?" sassed the cat.

That was a very good point. I put the bacon on a pan and into the hot oven. Then I grabbed some veggies for the eggs. While I didn't really cook much, I could make a good breakfast. Umber, my brother, didn’t have time to cook breakfasts when I was growing up so it was the one meal I could handle.

The cat jumped up on the counter next to the cutting board. He glared at the red peppers. "Are you putting vegetables in that?"

This time I stared at him. "Yes, veggies are good for you. Well us. Actually, are you eating the same stuff as me, or is there cat food around here somewhere?" Maybe I could get some answers about what I was going to do.

The cat’s full body twitched. "I am not eating cat food. I will have eggs. Without peppers in them, and bacon."

You could not live off of eggs and bacon, or at least I couldn’t. He could eat what I was eating. "Dude - these are sweet peppers and they will fry up with the scallions. It will be tasty. I swear."

He just stared and I kept going on chopping the peppers. Every time I went to reach for something it was right there. It sped everything up considerably. The bacon timer went off and I laid it out on some paper towels to crisp up. Then I tossed the peppers in a skillet with some bacon grease. The eggs were super quick to scramble.

"How many slices of bacon do you want?" I loaded my own plate up with four along with a big helping of eggs. On his slightly smaller plate, I put on the eggs, with the peppers and scallions. Then I added slices one by one.

"That should be good,” rumbled the cat.

I set both our plates on the island and grabbed a fork. By the time I turned around half his bacon was gone. "Woah, don't choke." He was even eating the scrambled eggs and the veggies. I couldn't help but smirk. Overall it was a really good breakfast. Probably one of the best things I cooked in a good while.

"So, what does the rest of today look like?"

"You man the register."

Was that really all he was going to give me? I motioned with my hand for him to continue. And then he didn't.

"That's it?"

"Yep."

This had to be about the peppers in the eggs. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. I set the dishes down in the sink and cleaned the rest of the kitchen. It wasn't surprising that the dishes were gone by the time I turned to get them washed. The dishwasher in the corner was going. I guess if you could move things around, getting the dishes done wasn't hard.

"Thank you," I whispered to the kitchen. I disliked doing dishes. It was a major reason why I didn't cook much. Cleaning up afterward was not my favorite thing to do. Alright, time for more coffee before the day really started. I was ready. For the day. I hope…

#

Now I was bored as heck. The cat had me unlock the front door over two hours ago and still nothing. A stool had appeared behind the counter and the cat was dozing off to sleep in the chair by the front window. I didn't know what to do with myself. Finally, I decided to wander through the shelves to see what I could read. My books had been unpacked upstairs but I had read each of them multiple times. As much as I liked the idea of digital books, they weren't my jam. I needed to touch the paper to sink into the story.

The bookshelves were just like any other bookstore. Each had a sign saying what the genre was. Everything from self-help to business, to fantasy and young adult. The children's section was much bigger than it had been yesterday and the number of kids' books was adorable. I swung by the cooking section and grabbed a book on cooking from the farm. It seemed interesting, and at least it would keep me busy.

The bells over the door rang, and a little girl darted into the store. She went right to the children's section, her jacket discarded in the middle of the floor. Not a glance around her. Or at me. Just to a particular spot on the floor, and then she pulled out various kids books. I quickly made my way back to the counter with the cookbook under my arm.

The cat slept on the chair. Okay, guess I would man the register. About three minutes later a tall guy came in. "Molly, you can't be darting off like that. You know better..." He gave me a smile and headed over to the kid, grabbing the fallen coat on the way.

"...but dinosaurs, Dad! I have to read about dinosaurs!" announced the little girl, Molly.

He crouched down next to her with a big smile on his face. "One book only and then we need to go. This is supposed to be your daily walk, not your daily reading time. We do that at home." The dad patted her on the head and stood up. He headed in my direction and I couldn't help but smile. My dad was that type of dad. Patient.

"Can I get you something to drink?" I asked as he approached. He had brown hair and deep brown eyes. He had at least ten years on me and studied me behind his glasses.

"Sure, can I get an americano to go and a small hot chocolate for Molly?"

"Coming right up." I turned to my coffee machine and got the grinder going, then the shots.

"You must be new here. I don't think I have seen you around. I know Arnold talked about retiring. You look like you know what you are doing with the new machine, he had drip coffee on tap."

I couldn't help but shiver. "I can do better than drip. Yeah, I just started here. My name is Sable." The americano was done and I glanced around. Under the counter was a stack of to-go cups. They were not there yesterday. I pulled one out and handed over the coffee. "Next up, a small hot chocolate."

"Did you hear that Molly? If you clean your books up, you can get a hot chocolate."

The little girl started moving much more quickly. I couldn't help but grin at the antics. I poured the hot chocolate into its own small cup and took it with me over to the register. Thankfully, the touch screen was there. I quickly rang them up and he used a tap card.

"Can I have my hot chocolate?" asked Molly.

"Of course, little one. Here you go!" Happiness rolled through me at the look on her face.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome - have a good day!" I couldn’t help but wave at the pair. This was going to be the easiest job ever. As they headed to the door, it opened yet again and the dad moved quickly to hold it. Someone was carrying a box inside.

"Thank you!" said a delivery guy. He headed to the counter and set the box down. I could now see his jacket. Something black darted nearby and I jumped as the cat made his way to the counter.

"Hey, little guy." The delivery guy gave him scratches. "I got two more in my truck. I'll be right back."

Of course, now the cat was up when packages arrived. The guy came back and nudged the door open before adding another box to the counter. His name tag said John.

"Hey, I’m John. You must be new," he said to me.

"I am. It's Sable. Are you the usual driver?"

He flashed a very white smile at me. He had to bleach those teeth. "This is on my route. Arnold finally retired." He shook his head. "I swore that he hated his job. Anyway, more stops to make. I hope to see you around!" John literally winked at me.

I gave him a small wave and tried not to roll my eyes. Staying on good terms with the delivery guys would be important. I grabbed a box cutter and opened the lid. Then the cat was in my way, peering inside.

"Good good. I hope everything is here,” mumbled the cat from partially inside the box. He climbed back out. Inside the first box was a weird collection of items. Bright blue paint, a three-pack of tennis balls, some more children's books, and some plain cotton rolls of fabric.

"Grab the paint out, you can take this box into the supply cabinet. Open the next one first." He pawed at the next box and quickly sliced the top open. I grabbed the first box and carried it over to the door I hadn't opened yet. It opened without a sound and I peered inside. There was a row of metal shelves, but not much was in there. I set the box on one of the shelves and headed back to the counter.

"What about this one?" I asked, trying to see what was inside, but it was filled with crinkled paper. The cat had pushed some of it out of the box but did not climb inside. I took over the job of removing the packing material. It had rows of glass vials that looked to be from an old fashioned apothecary.

"Look for the peppermint oil and the rosemary. The supply closet should also have a pouch of black powder. The rest of this can go into storage," the cat replied.

Taking each bottle out and staring at them to decipher the handwriting was rough. It took me longer than I would have thought to find the peppermint oil and the rosemary oil. The handwriting on the bottles was horrible. Some sort of cursive that was really small. I set those on the counter and headed back to the supply room. Something was different. A small leather pouch was sitting next to the first box. I set the box of vials down and picked up the bag. The paper tag was handwritten and said black powder. The only black powder I knew of was gunpowder.

I headed back to the counter and carefully set the leather bag down. "Alright, what's in the last box?" I asked. This was definitely a more interesting inventory than any other job.

He sniffed the box. "Well, open it and we can see... Though I think it's the diamond powder."

I moved much quicker after that. "Diamond powder? That’s a thing?"

The cat nodded at my question. "Lab-grown, much cheaper than anything else and it is the same thing. Works just as well as mined diamonds, but with less bloodshed."

The much smaller box did have a tub labeled diamond powder. Cubic zirconia was on the label. The collection of items was strange. Blue paint, herb oils, black powder and diamond powder. "So, why do we need all of this?" I motioned over the items.

The cat didn't answer, flicking his tail instead.

"Okay, does the diamond powder go in the supply closet?"

"Yep."

I added that to the shelves and then closed the door. After a moment, I opened the door and peeked back inside. Empty metal wire shelves. "Huh," I said, not really surprised anymore, but still unsettled.

"While you are playing around over there can you grab a clay crock from inside and then a wooden spoon from the kitchen? It should have a green handle."

Now, I was feeling like a go-fer. He really meant it when he had said I was hired because I had thumbs. Of course, the clay crock was on one side of the storage room that I hadn't seen, and the spoon was sitting on the island in the kitchen.

"Alright, now what?" I asked.

The cat sniffed everything and nodded. It looked so strange from a cat. "Now, it is time for magic."

I blinked. Then again. "Magic?"