Chapter 5: Sue vs. the Bureaucrats

 

Chapter 5: Sue vs. the Bureaucrats

Sue was furious.  She stalked back to her shop and slammed the door with sufficient force to knock down a few still unstable bolts. 

“If that ol’ Joe Chambers thinks he’s going to shut me down, he’s got another thing coming!,” she said as she stalked down the aisle headed towards a group of gawking, frightened women.

“It’s not so bad, Sue,” sputtered Amy, “the Deputy said it shouldn’t take long to fix.”

“Besides,” piped up long time customer Mildred Smith, “you don’t want anyone to get hurt, do you?  You’re just lucky you’re not hurt worse.”

Sue, still red faced, turned and smiled at Mildred.  “I suppose that’s so Mildred, things can always be worse, although I don’t know how they could get much worse.  I can’t afford to get new shelves put up, and I can’t afford to shut down.  Looks like things are about as bad as they can be.”

At this, Amy began to cry, which only made Sue angrier. 

“Will you stop sniveling Amy?  I need help getting these bolts set aside and you’re no good to me crying like a baby.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Amy as she sniffled, and started working at clearing away the bolts.  A few of the other women stepped up to help and before long there were neat stacks on the cutting table and up against the wall. 

Sue had restocked the rounds and fixed the displays, pleased that at least nothing else seemed to be broken.  She had no idea what she was going to do; only that she wasn’t going to shut down, no matter what the county inspector said. 

Damn that Joe.  He and Edna had been a thorn in her side for years.  Joe always seemed to be around when something embarrassing happened to her.  Of course, he was always a gentleman about it, but then that somehow made it worse.  The fact that Buck had been one of his best friends rankled her.  How long did he know about Buck and that little slut he took off with?  She was convinced he and Edna knew all about it and had been laughing at her behind her back the whole time.

It wasn’t just personal, now the two of them were threatening her livelihood.  Edna’s quiet boycott of her shop wouldn’t have bothered her so much if it wasn’t so obvious she shopped elsewhere.  It made Sue’s blood boil when guild members would come in looking for a piece of that blue fabric that Edna had featured in her latest quilt.  She’d try to steer them elsewhere, but then they’d leave disappointed.  It wasn’t good for business.

Now Joe just happened to be nearby when her shelves collapsed, and as usual had stuck his nose into her business by commenting on their unsafe construction.  Of course, he knew someone who could fix it, but did he know someone who’d pay for it?

After Buck left Sue was on her own.  He paid alimony for a while and she managed to keep the shop going by sheer intimidation.  However, there was only so much money in their neck of the woods, and only so many quilters.  It was a struggle to pay even her very low rent each month.  Belinda kept telling her she needed to have a big sale and clear out her old inventory, but Sue felt she couldn’t afford to take the loss.  Cash in hand would be great, but once the old inventory was gone she’d have a hard time paying for new stock.

“Well ladies, I guess we’d better figure out some way to fix my problem before the inspector shows up tomorrow.”

They looked at her, bewildered, what could they do?  After all, they’d just come in to pick up a couple of things.  Mildred was feeling particularly vulnerable.  Sue had always made her feel about two feet tall and had never been partial to any idea she’d had, why would she want her advice now?

Her first instinct was to shut up, but then she had a flash of an idea.

“Sue, what if you offered to have the annual guild show here? “

“Oh, come on Mildred, there isn’t enough room in this shop to have the show, and besides how would that help?”

Amy had finally stopped sniffling. She knew it was time she didn't let Sue frighten her so much, but jobs, even part time ones, were hard to find and hers was precarious already. She’d been looking at the shelves around the shop, trying to figure out what they could do when she realized Mildred's idea just might work.

“Mildred, that’s brilliant!” she said, “I can picture it now.  If we took down those shelves we could display quilts on the walls.”

Sue was finally starting to see it, and hesitatingly said, “If the guild could talk Mr. Jennings into letting them borrow the empty shop next door, we could show quilts there as well.  Between the two spaces there’d be plenty of room.”

One of the other ladies piped up, “It would be nice to have the show downtown instead of at the old fairgrounds.  I think the other merchants would love it.  Maybe we could get some of them to sponsor us?”

Mildred was suddenly full of ideas and thrilled with the way things were going. 

“Sue, this could be fabulous for the whole town!  Those shelves falling down could have been the best thing to ever happen to you.”

Sue’s head had been spinning with the possibilities and the headaches involved with this developing plan.  The show would certainly help business; it might even make her enough money to get the shelves made.  But, what would she do in the meantime?  It was months before the show, she’d have to find some way to stay in business until then.

The next morning was as cold as the last.  Sue woke up with a headache, and the realization that all of the brainstorming she and her best friend Belinda had been doing the night before was a blur. 

As usual, Belinda was upbeat about it all.  Having the show at the shop was a great idea.  Her cousin was married to Mr. Jennings’s son, and she was sure she could talk him into giving them the use of the empty storefront for the show.  They would have to get the local merchants and the town council on board, but that wouldn’t be too difficult.  Of course, the guild would have to agree, but once the town saw the benefit of it, she was sure the guild members would fall into line.

The main issue was dealing with keeping the shop open.  As Sue made a pot of coffee she pondered Belinda’s plan.  If they rearranged things a bit, they could find some space off the wall shelves for some of the bolts.  The other ones would have to be set aside for now, until money could be found to replace the shelves.  It was a workable plan and Belinda had promised to meet her at the shop that morning to finalize it.

When Sue arrived at the Piece of Work, Amy was standing outside with Deputy Clark and another man in a business suit.  The Deputy stepped up and introduced Sue to Chuck Barnes, the county inspector.

“I’m sorry we have to do this Sue, it won’t take long.”  the Deputy said to Sue as they followed her into the shop.

Mr. Barnes was already inspecting the shelves.  Sue was glad she’d cleaned up well the night before, as he seemed to be looking everywhere, not just at the wall shelves.

After a while, the inspector came over to where Sue, Amy, and the Deputy were standing.

“I’m sorry to say that those shelves have to come down.” He said, “Although I think you’d be OK with the bottom shelves.  There’s a simple fix that will make them stable.” 

He then proceeded to show her what needed to be done.  Fortunately, Belinda arrived just then, and followed along, listening intently and asking lots of questions.

“So, if Sue makes that little fix, can she stay open?”

“I don’t see why not,” said Mr. Barnes, warming to Belinda’s flirty tone.  “Of course, the top shelves have to be removed until they can be replaced with something more solid.”

He turned to Sue, “Do you need a list of contractors that could help you out with that?”

Sue, thrilled that she’d be able to stay open with such an inexpensive fix said she’d love a  list.

“I’ll make sure I e-mail you one today.  In the meantime, until those shelves are down you can’t open.”

“No problem,” piped up Belinda,” we’ll be taking down the rest of the bolts this morning, and should have everything ready to open this afternoon.  Would that be OK?”

“Works for me,” said Inspector Barnes, and he and the Deputy said their goodbyes and headed out the door.

“Whew!” said Sue, “that was a close one.”

“Yeah, and I think that inspector was kinda cute,” Belinda smiled as she watched him head towards his car.

Sue sniffed, “That’s enough, Belinda, we’ve got work to do!”

Amy stood by in wonderment, something was up, but she didn’t know what.

“What are we going to do?”

“Well, Miss Amy,” started Belinda.

Sue piped up with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

“It looks like we’re going to have a Sale!”

Next:  Edna Gets a Phone Call