Erin twirled the sign, much to the amusement of the crowd. He did a pose and pointed at the door. Finally, the gawkers got a move on. Piling inside. Erin went after them and placed the sign behind the counter.

Five. If they all bought one thing, that was five sales. If they bought more, well, the hag was going to be even happier. A woman approached him with a note. There were at least ten things on it.

“All of these,” Erin spent most of his time outside, so, he wasn't very knowledgeable about the medicine on stock. Still, everything was well-ordered, and he began to search.

He was pretty sure that the powdered fox fur was as useless as it sounded, and wondered for what it could be. Better hair? Better skin? Indigestion? He chuckled at the last one and found the powder with the f’s.

Then, it was the donkey hooves, again, powdered. What was this people and powder? It was good that no one made him speak nonsense about the merchandise. People wanted to appear knowledgeable, at least the new customers did. And the regulars came with ready-made notes with nonsense cures.

He found the donkey hoof powder with the rest of the hoof powders. Then, it was a bottle of chicken blood. What, couldn’t these people just get a chicken from the supermarket and extract some blood from there? That was a trip to the freezer.

Erin turned towards the waiting crowd. They all looked like regulars, so, he was sure Ling Mei knew where they lived in case, they got up to trouble. She even knew where he lived. And he hadn’t told her.

“Brother Hu Son will come back shortly,” he did a slight bow, just as Ling Mei had taught him, and the people nodded. He went to the freezer and got the small bottle of blood.

Erin sure hoped that the lady wasn’t about to summon a demon. Considering that vampires existed, Erin was pretty sure that demons did, too. Then, knowing his luck, the thing will come to him and demand a refund for being bothered by weird Chinese ladies at three am or something.

He checked the note. Three slugs. He shuddered. He hated taking out the slugs. They were gross.

“You need this job, Erin. At least until Andrew starts you a business,” he repeated to himself, and went to the aquarium with the slugs. Slugs, much like vampires, were unnatural beings. As far as Erin was concerned.

They didn’t have eyes. Looked like barf. Smelled awful. But, worst of all, they were slimy. He supposed that it could have been worse. They could have been selling leeches.

Erin, after much fumbling, got three slugs in a glass holder and checked the note again. Who in the world required snail poop! God darn it all! Erin finished collecting everything, making a trip to the front about twice, since what he required was there.

When he got behind the counter, he bagged the purchases after ringing them. Wow, just the snail poop alone, a small bottle, smaller than the chicken blood one, costed fifty dollars! The gears in Erin’s brain began to turn.

There were snails around the sewer. Seeing as it was wet and smelly and the grass was green where there was grass. He could get some and force them to poop their weight out per day. Each day. He could get them some weeds to eat. And then, he could sell their poop!

But, what was it for? Now, he knew he should know these things, but Ling Mei had just shown him how to activate the security, how to use the register, and how to smile in the most fake way as possible.

“Excuse me, Madam. However, for what do you need the snail poop for? This brother has never sold it before,” the woman brightened at the way he spoke to her. Erin plastered a fake winning smile on his face and blinked his eyes like a confused kitten.

“For a face mask. See my skin? That is all snail poop,” her skin did indeed look better kept than her age would suggest. And Erin was going by her salt and pepper hair.

“Thank you for enlightening this brother Hu Son,” said Erin with a bow, and the woman giggled like a school girl. Then, she paid and left. The next one-handed Erin a note and he mechanically collected her things.

The woman hadn’t minded being asked, so Erin began to ask the regulars about what they were buying and their day. Not that he cared for the latter, but they were all middle-aged or elderly women who looked lonely.

By the end of the day, he found that most of the things people wanted to buy were expensive as fuck. But, there were some teas that fit into his price range. He bought a wooden box, since Ling Mei sold even those separately, and filled it up with herbs from a bag labelled: for back pain.

He made sure to remember what they were for, and he was sure that Andrew could make them a true miracle cure by the time he was done with painting a new picture of them.

Satisfied, he left. He was not paid for any overtime, despite Ling Mei hinting she would be happy if he did the extra hours. He was not about to be ripped off by the hag. His time was his own.

When he got back, Andrew wasn’t home. Erin rummaged in the fridge and pulled out some eggs, hot dogs and onions. Deciding to butter Andrew up so that the ginger could come up with the best-selling pitch, he quickly made some scrambled eggs.

When Andrew came back, it was with piles upon piles of shopping bags with clothing and a wide grin.

“I got them for you. Try them on,” said the ginger, and Erin felt a warmth spread through him. Andrew shouldn’t have. He had just got a lucky break. And, instead of getting himself something, he had spurge on Erin.

“Thank you,” Erin said, voice weak. This was the kindest someone has ever treated him. All without wanting something in return. He vowed to cook all of Andrew’s meals and to go shopping for groceries when he had the money for it. It was only fair.