Needful Things - Stephen King [23]
She consulted with her friends.
Gaunt watched them, smiling gently.
The bell over the door rang and two more ladies came in.
At Needful Things, the first full day of business had begun.
6
When the Ash Street Bridge Club left Needful Things ten minutes later, Cyndi Rose Martin carried a shopping bag by the handles.
Inside was the Lalique vase, wrapped in tissue paper. She had purchased it for thirty-one dollars plus tax, almost all of her pin money, but she was so delighted with it that she was almost purring.
Usually she felt doubtful and a little ashamed of herself after such an impulse buy, certain that she had been cozened a little if not cheated outright, but not today. This was one deal where she had come out on top. Mr. Gaunt had even asked her to come back, saying he had the twin of this vase, and it would be arriving in a shipment later in the week-perhaps even tomorrow! This one would look lovely on the little table in her living room, but if she had two, she could put one on each end of the mantel, and that would be smashing.
Her three friends also felt that she had done well, and although they were a little frustrated at having gotten so little of Mr.
Gaunt's background, their opinion of him was, on the whole, quite high.
"He's got the most beautiful green eyes," Francie Pelletier said, a little dreamily.
"Were they green?" Cyndi Rose asked, a little startled. She herself had thought they were gray. "I didn't notice."
7
Late that afternoon, Rosalie Drake from You Sew and Sew stopped in Needful Things on her coffee break, accompanied by Polly's housekeeper, Nettle Cobb. There were several women browsing in the store, and in the rear corner two boys from Castle County High were leafing through a cardboard carton of comic books and muttering excitedly to each other-it was amazing, they both agreed, how many of the items they needed to fill their respective collections were here. They only hoped the prices would not prove too high. It was impossible to tell without asking, because there were no price-stickers on the plastic bags which held the comics.
Rosalie and Nettle said hello to Mr. Gaunt, and Gaunt asked Rosalie to thank Polly again for the cake. His eyes followed Nettle, who had wandered away after the introductions and was looking rather wistfully at a small collection of carnival glass. He left Rosalie studying the picture of Elvis next to the splinter of PETRIFIED WOOD FROM THE HOLY LAND and walked over to Nettle.
"Do you like carnival glass, Ms. Cobb?" he asked softly.
She jumped a little-Nettle Cobb had the face and almost painfully shy manner of a woman made to jump at voices, no matter how soft and friendly, when they spoke from the general area of her elbow-and smiled at him nervously.
"It's Missus Cobb, Mr. Gaunt, although my husband's been passed on for some time now."
"I'm sorry to hear it."
"No need to be. It's been fourteen years. A long time. Yes, I have a little collection of carnival glass." She seemed almost to quiver, as a mouse might quiver at the approach of a cat. "Not that I could afford anything so nice as these pieces. Lovely, they are.
Like things must look in heaven."
"Well, I'll tell you something," he said. "I bought quite a lot of carnival glass when I got these, and they're not as expensive as you might think. And the others are much nicer. Would you like to come by tomorrow and have a look at them?"
She jumped again and sidled away a step, as If he had suggested she might like to come by the next day so he could pinch her bottom a few times perhaps until she cried.
"Oh, I don't think Thursday's my busy day, you know at Polly's we have to really turn the place out