Saturday's Child II

The next several weeks kept us all very busy in the house. Helen, George and I were of course very invested in Jonathon’s new plan but we weren’t the only ones. Everyone pitched in, even Kristy, who is one of the two who don’t live in the house anymore. She works as a fashion model so she was actually a great help to us when it came to choosing stock for the store. She knew everything that was in fashion and what was likely to become fashionable soon.

The only one of the siblings who wasn’t actively involved in the project actually was Joseph, who we call the wanderer. Sometimes we get postcards from him, from goodness knows where. He has no set address and rarely calls so he is very out of touch with what goes on at the house. Thursday’s child really does have far to go I guess. Just like the rhyme says. Though I wonder sometimes if even he knows where it is he’s going. I doubt it. I think he just likes the feeling of being on the move.

We found a nice little shop for sale in a prime spot down town. It was a little pricy but for the position it was a good deal. It took about two months for us to do all the remodeling on it. Of course we would have hired people, we had the money but some how doing it ourselves made it more ours. By the end of those two months we had spent more time as a family then we had in years, and we were the proud parents of a clothing store.

George, Friday’s child, his wife and children did the wood working. They built the shelving and the counter. George even did some detailing around the doorframes. Kristy, Monday’s child, picked the stock and got us some good deals through some of her connections in the fashion industry. Joseph didn’t know it but he helped us with the decorations. The Christmas presents he had sent home over the years became decorations. Mirrors from South America, paintings from China, and carvings from Africa adorned the shop. Tuesday’s child, Alex, did the actual stocking of the shelves and hangers. He is the most careful of all of us, the most likely to get everything perfect. George did the advertising and arranged the publicity. It was his store supposedly after all; we thought it was best if he was the one who came in contact with the public. I of course did the accounts and kept track of the expenditures. I also did all of the paperwork and got the necessary permits. I think I am the only one in the family with any administrative talent what so ever. Helen, the child of the Sabbath, is good at whatever she turns her hand to and helped all of us a little. None of us can be jealous of her, she’s our kid sister and therefore a great favorite, but sometimes it is annoying to see just how talented she is.

We didn’t have the luck to open the shop before Christmas, so we missed those sales, but we opened soon after Valentines Day the next year. We agreed none of us but George would work there, unless he was sick or on vacation. We all felt much invested in the store, but it wouldn’t do him any good if we took it over. This was his project, we knew that. It was time George learned to stand on his own two feet.

George honestly poured his soul into that store I think. We never saw him. After the first month the shop was open he moved out of the house into a very small basement apartment, all by himself, closer to the shop. I had worried that he wouldn’t like to stay there since it was such a dump but he had just shrugged and said that it didn’t matter. I don’t think he slept much. He took over the accounts from me, even though I had told him I could do them. He started picking the stock and stocking himself. It was a small store but it wasn’t that small.

To be continued.....