Road Through Spring

Chapter 2: Our Night Out

 Bea sat at the front desk of the Ol'Pickaxe as she logged the current inventory from the end of the day before. This afternoon was quiet, unusually quiet, and boring.

There was a ding from the shop door opening. She lifted her head up expecting to see a red-eyed feline coming through. No, she was hoping to see the Mae. To take her away from the stress of work, even if for only a moment. "Afternoon," approached a robin. He wore a checker patterned red jacket and took out a small wire-bound notebook.

"Need something?" Bea asked, a little disappointed that it was simply another customer.

"Yeah, uhm. You sell paint, like the type you'd use for wall painting? I need 3 gallons of carmine and 2 gallons of peach. Oh, I also need a new paint roller." The bird requested. Bea went into the back and went through their paint supply. It wasn't a grandiose collection of colors There were simply 3 different shades for each of the primary and secondary colors as well as 5 shades from black to white. She took a few trips grabbed the cans and bringing them to the front desk and setting them next to the register, finishing off with getting a paint roller.

"That'll be $67.53." The robin nodded and pulled out and took a moment to count up a cash equivalent. Bea's eye flicked over to the window and was caught a little off guard by what she saw.

"Here you go," the robin said, setting the cash on the counter and left the store towards his car with paint buckets in hand.

Once Bea finished checking the amount and stashing the many away in the register she walked towards the front of the shop and opened the door. "Mae? What are you doing?" She asked as the blue cat pushed the snow built up on the sidewalk to the side. Upon hearing her name she took a moment to rest and catch her breath.

"Oh, hey Bea! I'm shoveling the sidewalks."

"I can see that, but what I want to know is why?"

"I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart! To serve the community in whatever way possible!" Mae proclaimed loudly, earning an unconvinced raised eyebrow from her scaley friend. "I signed up to do snow removal yesterday."

"Really? Huh, I never thought I'd see the day you actually started working."

"Hey! I'm not that useless, I spent like, 35 hours shoveling snow yesterday" Mae huffed.

"Mae there aren't even that many hours in a day."

"Okay, but it was still a long time. I had to go all the way from the memorial to the bridge and then back!"

"Holy shit. That's gotta be like 12 to 16 hours with how much snow was covering the place."

"Yeah, today has been a bit easier, not as much snow as yesterday, but I get super cold and wet. And for what a couple of dollars?"

"I'm pretty sure it's more like $15 an hour."

"Wait really? The Garlands ripped me off!"

"Garlands? You mean the old couple that lived on Buttercup Boulevard 8 years ago?"

"They paid me 5 dollars for 2 hours of work."

"Wait, didn't you build a giant snowman that took up half of their driveway?"

"I called him sniffles! He was a masterpiece! I should have been given a bonus." Mae threw out both of her arms into the air to place emphasis on her statement.

"My god Mae... That's not how that works I'm surprised you got paid at all. Well, I should probably get back to work. You should too before the snow builds back up."