Sam’s Trading Post

Joe stared at the bright neon lettered sign on the building: Sam’s Trading Post—Making Trade Great Again. The lights flickered and he wondered about the added words at the end. He didn’t want to trade with Sam’s anymore, but he had very little choice. He marched up to Sam’s, knowing things had changed a lot in the last year.

Joe had a deal he wanted to get done with the manager Eddie. If Eddie wouldn’t deal, he could still go to Ruby’s Silk Roadhouse. He wrung his hands together, paced the aisles and wandered to the back of the store.

Joe turned a corner and spotted his friend Valentina. She appeared to be looking for something. Or someone.

“Hey Valentina,” Joe called. “How’s it going?”

She jumped and spun around. “Joe, you scared the hell out of me.” She smiled. “You shouldn’t sneak up on a girl like that.”

“Sorry, about that,” Joe shrugged, “I should know better, things have gotten pretty weird around here lately.”

Valentina laughed. “You can say that again.”

“Things have gotten pretty weird—”

“Si, mucho loco.” Valentina chuckled, then glanced over his head. “Now I have to worry about undercover agents wandering the aisles of this store.”

“Undercover agents?”

“Ya, people who are pretending to work here, or shop here. They’re just looking for some of the poor people who used to come here and get stuff cheap. People that maybe shouldn’t be here, but they helped everyone out and didn’t hurt anyone.”

“Oh, ya, I heard about those agents. Cold bastards.” Joe swiveled in the aisle, checking to see if anyone else was around.

“Some of my people have been tossed out into the streets. Some are bad people, but some good ones too.” Valentina grabbed Joe by the arm. “Come on, let’s go see if Eddie’s at his desk.”

Joe kept pace with Valentina as they marched toward the back of Sam’s Trading Post. They glanced at all the wares sitting on the shelves. Joe noticed some of the stuff was brand new and there were other items marked as clearance. On a shelf marked clearance stood a windmill, the sign on it said: Discontinued. Causes cancer and kills birds. Losers only.

Joe was confused. When he used to shop here, things like windmills were all the rage. Next to the windmill sat a bin of coal. The sign read: Premium energy supply! Comes with 50% more lung issues!

“Valentina, what’s with the coal? I thought it was being phased out?”

“Apparently, the new manager here wants to bring it back. He said something about a green scam. I’m not sure, I think some of the people working here are happy to see it back. Something about more money.”

“Pretty low priced considering how dirty it is.” Joe shrugged.

“Eddie isn’t too concerned about that, I think he makes more money on stuff like that.” Valentina stopped and grabbed Joe’s arm. “I heard last week he took over Valencia’s Oil Supply House.” She whispered, “It’s just a small store a few blocks south. He said something about them bringing too many illegal substances into the Trading Post.”

“That’s really weird, he blamed me for bringing illegal stuff in as well. I spent a lot of money making sure nothing that didn’t belong came in. As far as I can tell there was nothing to worry about.”

“I’ve dealt with the same thing. I sure hope he doesn’t try to take over our stores as well.” Valentina put her arm in Joe’s and turned a corner.

“What are you two doing being so cozy?” The stranger’s voice startled them and Valentina instantly let go of Joe’s arm. A tall man wearing a black coat and grey dress pants stood blocking the aisle. He wore a mask on his face, something in his eyes made Joe’s stomach drop.

Joe smiled, “How can you blame me for being cozy with such a beautiful woman?” He grabbed Valentina’s hand, “We’ve been good friends for a very long time. Nothing to worry about. Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m just stocking the shelves.” He gestured at the half-empty shelf behind him, “See? Very organized.”

Joe glanced past the man with the mask. The shelf had a can of spray tan and a book titled, The Art of The Steal. Joe was tempted to say something about it, but Valentina squeezed his hand.

“New owner? I thought it was just a new manager?” Joe stared past the masked man, without waiting for an answer he spoke, “Can we get by? We need to go see the man himself.”

The masked man glared at them. His voice was deep and rumbled from behind his mask, “Who can I tell is here to see him? I can see if he has time for you.”

“Tell him Señorita Valetina is here to see him.” Her voice was firm and confident.

Joe looked sideways at his friend, “And Joe Canuck is here as well.”

The man in the mask nodded and walked off toward the back of the store.

Joe started to follow but stopped when the man called over his shoulder, “Wait here.”

Joe scanned the store around him. It was quite clear that the rows were in a state of disarray. Most of the shelves were half empty and what was there looked to be either broken or worn out.

Valentina shook her head and stared at Joe, “We’ve never had to wait to see the manager before.”

“Things have really changed in the last year.”

“Humph you can say that again.” A quiet voice drifted into their ears.

Valentina glanced at Joe, “Don’t do it.”

Joe smiled, “Things have really changed—”

“Okay Joe, we know,” Valentina stared down at the small woman who came up the aisle with a bucket and mop in her hand. “Who are you?”

The diminutive older Latino woman stared at the retreating back of the masked man. “Things have really changed at Sam’s Trading Post. The cost of everything has gone up since the new manager took over. I just want to work hard and feed my family. But that’s been getting tougher every day.”

“I wish we could help you.” Joe glanced at Valentina, but she was staring off toward the back of the store.

The lady with the mop sighed and kept mopping the floor. She worked her way down the aisle. Joe noticed another masked man wearing a black coat, approach the janitor woman. He said something to her, then grabbed her arm and led her toward a darkened section of the store. Joe noticed a sign overhead that read: Employee Reassignment Center. Women and children first.

“Did you see that?”

“See what, Joe?” Valentina scanned the aisles. She pulled Joe in close. “I think that was one of the undercover agents.”

“He took her away. Where did they go? Now who’s going to mop the floors?”

Valentina shrugged. “I don’t know, nor do I care.”

“Hello Valentina!” A booming voice interrupted their conversation, The manager of Sam’s Trading Post ambled down the aisle toward them. He glanced in Joe’s direction, “Oh hi Joe. Good to see you too.”

“Hello Eddie, how’s it going?” Joe smiled at the man and held out his hand.

Eddie ignored his hand and reached out to Valentina, “Hello my dear, how have you been?”

“I’m fine Eddie, just fine.” She barely hid the disdain in her voice.

Eddie grinned and spread his hands, “Joe in answer to your question, I’m great! The best there’s ever been! No one’s ever been better than me.”

Joe peered at Eddie. Eddie’s smile felt like the look a cat has when it sees a bird it’s about to eat. “That’s great Eddie. I’m here because we want to make a trade deal with you. As you know we’ve enjoyed free trade since the days of ol’ Ronnie. But lately you’ve been taxing some of the stuff we’ve been selling here. It sure would be great if we could go back to times like that.”

“Well Joe, that’s not going to happen.” Eddie stopped smiling. “You’ve been a naughty boy, Joe. You have people smuggling illegal stuff into our store—”

“Now Eddie, you know that’s not—” Joe tried to interject.

“Don’t interrupt me, Joe.” He glanced over at Valentina, “You’ve had some bad hombres bring in things we don’t want as well.”

“Ah Eddie, you know that many customers of your store want what they’re bringing in.”

“No, Valentina, that’s not true. And if you don’t listen, you might not like what will happen.” Eddie waved his hands and pointed back at Joe. “Joe, we have the best and the biggest of everything here. Why would you be trading with Ruby’s Silk Roadhouse?”

“Last week you said it was good we made that deal.” Joe took a breath; he didn’t want to upset Eddie. “Besides you’re always going to be our best customer, and we have so much in common.”

“Fake news Joey. I never said you could make a deal with Ruby’s. What I said last week was different. I didn’t mean it. If I did, I meant something else.” Eddie glared at Joe “That’s why I proposed to make your store a part of ours.”

“I told you all along, we’re happy to be friends and trade with you. But we don’t want to belong to you. We like the way things are.”

“Yes Joe, I know. But I don’t care. I know what I want. At least I do today.”

“Eddie, we all have a lot in common; we can work with each other.” Valentina reached over and touched Eddie’s arm. “Joe and I are working together; we worked together the last time you managed the store. We should remain friends.”

“Manager? Yes, last time I was the manager. Now I’m the owner and I can do as I please.” Eddie grinned at Valentina and glanced over at Joe. “If Joe keeps dealing with Ruby’s I’m going to have to double the taxes on everything he sells to my customers. You know I’m not thrilled with the way he talks about me to all the other stores.”

“What do you mean Eddie?” Joe frowned. “I just tell it like it is. Valentina, and I along with Maggie, Sven, François and Willhelm, work together. We don’t want to be fodder for you or for Ruby.”

“Come on now Joe. This is the best place there is. As Sam’s Trading Post goes, so goes everyone else. We have the best prices, the best products and the most of everything. How can you argue with us being the biggest and the best? You wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for Sam’s Trading Post.”

Joe saw the smile fade from Eddie’s face and noticed more of the masked men approaching from the back of the store.

“Thanks for everything you do.” Joe felt himself making a fist. It took everything he had to let his fingers relax. “We are alive and well without you. But that doesn’t mean we don’t love your customers and your store.”

Eddie laughed and picked up a deck of cards from a shelf. He opened the pack and shuffled them in his hands. “I need to think about what to do with our deal. Why don’t you and Valentina come back soon. We can see what we can work out.” Eddie smiled and dropped the deck of cards on the floor. The cards scattered, the only two that were face up were the Jokers. Eddie turned and ambled away.

“I don’t think things will ever be the same.” Joe glanced at the masked men.

“Si, Joe, I’m afraid you may be right.” Valentina grabbed Joe’s arm. They walked outside and stared back at the flickering neon sign. Some lights were burnt out and the sign read: Sam’s _rading __st -_king _rade __eat _gain.

“At least it’s honest now.” Joe muttered.