THE NOSE AND HIS PERFUME

Chapter Two

Chapter Two: An Unexpected Arrival

The twins and Mrs. V took the elevator upstairs to continue decorating. They were decorating the store for Christmas that night because the store closed early on Sundays. It was December, and freezing rain pelted the windows. Still this was Bunny’s favourite time of year; when the leaves fell, swishing the ground to collect in pungent heaps, then the snow, and almost every week there was a holiday. The Varshavskys loved holidays. Mr. V always said that was the thing about living above a department store: they had an excuse to celebrate everything; and they did. On Diwali, the store lit up like the sun. On Halloween, they turned out all the lights and transformed the store into a haunted house. J-F never complained that they wanted to decorate every known holiday of the year, but would simply nitpick after them until everything looked perfect. Fewer and fewer people came to Spark’s and Campbell’s anymore other than for the store’s famous displays and events. 

Mrs. V sent the twins to wash the basement grime off of their hands before they decorated. Coming back from the washrooms, the twins cut across the store’s vast, white marble lobby. Bunny glanced up at the soaring, two-story high ceiling of the lobby, which was patterned with tile mosaics. A wide staircase with brass railings curved up to the second floor, where a balcony overlooked the front entrance to the store. The twins were heading for the stairs to go back up to the second floor and continue decorating, when they noticed a tall figure staring in at them through the revolving front door. Bunny went up to the door. Beau hung back, warning her not to open it.

A man was huddled under the shelter of the awning outside, cupping his hand against the glass to peer in at them. He shook out a large umbrella, closed it, and tapped the handle on the glass. Looking irritated, he impatiently knocked louder and glared at the twins. The man seemed so sure he should be let in, Bunny tapped back, motioning for him to wait, and they ran off to get the Varshavskys.

            They came back with the Varshavskys a few minutes later, and Mr. V unbolted the door. As the man stepped inside, looking displeased that they had kept him waiting, Mrs. V gasped, backing up in surprise. Mr. V adjusted his glasses to give the man a closer look, and quietly said, “Holy Hannah Montana, jiminy tap-dancing cripes.”

“You’re back,” Mrs. V said.

Bunny would naturally have assumed that the man and the Varshavskys knew each other, but the man seemed thrown by the Varshavskys’ reactions.

“I just got here,” he said. “I think you must have me confused with someone else. You must be the Varshavskys. I’m Cornelius Salt, the Nose.”

The man looked younger to Bunny in the bright light of the store than he had when she first saw him. He was pale, with dark hair that was wet and stringy from the rain, and had the pinched, unhealthy look of someone too thin for the cold. The Varshavskys were both still silently staring up at him.   

“I’m the Nose,” the man repeated, slower and much louder, as though the elderly couple might be hard-of-hearing. “I’m here with XEssence. The perfume. I want to take a look around.”

“I can still hear,” Mrs. V said.

Then breaking into a smile, she moved forward with her arms open, as if she might hug the Nose. He recoiled, defensively sticking out his long hand for her to shake instead. Mrs. V gripped his hand and affectionately patted it. Mr. V was watching with his arms crossed on his large stomach, the way he always did when deeply considering something. Then he abruptly shook himself and stepped forward to clumsily shake the Nose’s hand.

“We were expecting you tomorrow,” Mr. V said. “We’re closed, but come in.”

Mrs. V looked like she was about to say something to the Nose, but Mr. V shook his head at her not to. Oblivious, the Nose ran his fingers through his damp hair and examined himself in the reflection of the store window. He straightened up and importantly strode further inside. Directly across the lobby, below the second floor balcony, laid the rest of the first floor of the store.