The Peacock Emporium(127)

Are you ready? she mouthed at him, from behind the door, and then as he nodded she stepped to the window, lifted the gauze curtain, and stepped outside, to where the others stood, a few feet back from the shop, watching with a little anxiety as they took in the display in front of them.

The window was filled with pink gerberas draped from above with the stenciled Mexican fiesta decorations that Jessie had planned to take home at an arranged staff discount, and twisted around with the white fairy-lights that had previously decorated the shelves.

It contained the following items: a pair of net wings that Jessie had once worn all day for a bet, a sequined purse she had loved but regretted she could not afford, and a circular box of pink-wrapped chocolates. To the side there were several magazines, including Vogue and Hello!, and a piece of handwritten work she had brought back from night school, with “very promising” scrawled in red on the margin. There was a salsa CD, which Jessie had played until Suzanna had begged for mercy, and a drawing of Emma’s that she had pinned above the till. In the center there were two photographs, one of which had been taken by Father Lenny and showed Suzanna and Jessie laughing with Arturro beaming in the background, and the other was of Jessie with Emma, seated outside, both wearing pink sunglasses. It was all arranged around a piece of cream parchment, on which Suzanna had penned, in cursive handwriting and fuchsia ink:

    Jessie Carter had a smile as bright as August, and the dirtiest laugh this side of Sid James. She loved Mars bar ice creams, bright pink, this shop, and her family, not in that order. She loved her daughter, Emma, more than anything in the whole world, and for someone so full of love, that meant a lot.

She wasn’t allowed the time to achieve everything she had wanted, but she changed my shop, and then she changed me. I know that nobody in this town who met her could not have been changed by her too.



The display glowed, bright and gaudy, at odds with the bare brick and wood around it. At the very front there were two coffee cups. One was empty.

Nobody spoke. After several minutes, Suzanna began to get anxious and glanced at Father Lenny for reassurance. “Having the townspeople displays were Jessie’s idea,” she said, into the silence, “so I thought she’d like it.”

Still no one spoke. Suzanna felt sick suddenly, as if she had reverted to her former self, always saying and doing the wrong thing. She had got it wrong here too. She felt a hiccup of panic rising, and fought to keep it down.

“It’s not meant to be everything she was—say everything about her. I just wanted to do a little celebration of her. Something happier than what’s been . . .” She trailed off, feeling useless and inadequate.

Then she felt a hand on her arm, and looked down at the slim, manicured fingers, then up at Liliane’s now softened, carefully made-up face. “It’s beautiful, Suzanna,” she said. “You’ve done a lovely job.”

Suzanna blinked hard.

“It’s almost as good as one of hers,” said Mrs. Creek, who had leaned forward to peer at it. “You should have put in a packet of those heart sweets. She was always eating those heart sweets.”

“She’d love it,” said Father Lenny, placing his arm round Cath Carter’s shoulders. He squeezed her, and murmured something in her ear.

“It’s very nice,” she said quietly. “Very nice.”

“I’ve taken a few pictures of it for Emma’s memory box,” Suzanna said. “For when . . . it has to come down. When the shop closes. But it’ll be in here till then.”

“You should get someone from the paper,” said Mrs. Creek. “Get them to put a picture in the paper.”

“No,” said Cath. “I don’t want it in the papers.”

“I like that picture of Jessie and Emma,” said Father Lenny. “I always liked those sunglasses. They looked like you should be able to eat them.”

“I should think they’d taste awful,” said Mrs. Creek.

Behind them, Suzanna realized, Arturro was in tears, his heavy shoulders turned away from them in an attempt to disguise his grief. Liliane stepped toward him, and put an arm around him.

“Hey . . . big man,” said Father Lenny, leaning forward. “Come on, now . . .”

“It’s not just Jessie,” Liliane said, turning. She was smiling, her expression indulgent. “It’s . . . everything. He’s really going to miss your shop.”

Suzanna noticed that Liliane’s slim arm stretched barely halfway across his back.

“We’ll all miss the shop,” said Father Lenny. “It had . . . a certain something.”

“I just liked the feeling. Coming in.” Arturro blew his nose. “I even liked the word. Emporium.” He enunciated it slowly, savoring each syllable.

“You could rename your delicatessen Arturro’s Emporium,” said Mrs. Creek, and bridled as everyone looked blankly at her.

“We have a lot of reasons to feel fond of your shop,” said Liliane, carefully.

“Feels almost like it was more Jessie’s shop,” said Suzanna.

“If it doesn’t sound too mawkish,” Father Lenny put in, “I like to think there’s another one up there somewhere, with Jessie serving.”

“You are being mawkish,” said Cath.

“Serving and talking,” said Suzanna.